


Blur of Silver and Blue

by captainafroelf



Series: Pietro and Nia [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Black Character(s), F/M, Father Figures, Female Character of Color, Female Friendship, Female Scientist, Fluff, Fuck Joss Whedon TBH, Humor, Interracial Relationship, Jewish Character, Male-Female Friendship, Pietro Maximoff Lives, Romance, Romani Character, Science, Smut, Young Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-01
Updated: 2015-12-12
Packaged: 2018-04-07 04:53:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 47,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4250106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainafroelf/pseuds/captainafroelf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nia, the newest Avengers scientist, has a secret... His name is Pietro Maximoff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Girl Who's Never Been On A Nice Date

**Author's Note:**

> !!!!!  
>  Yoooo!!!  
> I am SO beyond excited to finally get this out. I have put my heart and soul into this, trying to make it some of my best work. Idk if it is, but whatever. I hope you enjoy this and everything I have planned for this story. Thank you for reading!  
> This work is a continuation of the one-shot 'Make It Quick', but I feel like you don't have to read it to get what's going on.  
> (Sorry this chapter title sounds like a Panic! At The Disco song)

_It’s just a date. It’s just a date. Nothing serious, just a date. You and Pietro are going to dinner, that’s nice. It doesn’t mean you’re dating… No, wait, it sorta does. But you’re only dating if it goes well, right? Those are the rules? What rules? He ate you out in a closet two days ago and that was so against the rules!_

Nia stuck herself in the scalp with a bobby pin, pulling herself from her anxiety. This date was all she could think about. She’d been so worried, worried about being fired, worried about being caught, worried about fucking it up. Now the date was here, there was no backing out of it, and she was scared as hell.

Pietro told her the restaurant he was looking at wasn't super fancy- they were both broke- and it would be okay for her to wear jeans if she wanted to, so she did. She wore jeans, a black crop top, and her best pair of heels. Her blue hair was pinned into two cute buns on the sides of her head. She'd even put on jewelry. The gold color looked beautiful against her brown skin. She almost never wore jewelry besides her nose ring. She also never went on dates.

_I look like an alien. Oh God, I'm a nerd. This date isn't going well already and he isn't even here yet to see it not go well. Science never prepared me for this. I should've stuck to orchestra like my mother wanted me to... What the fuck am I talking about? It's 8:45, Pietro should be here any min-_

The buzzer rang and her heart stopped. There wasn’t any more time to worry. She tried to rush to the door without falling like an ass. She looked through the peephole and Pietro was there with a look in his eyes that was somewhere between nervous, hopeful, and excited. She opened the door and they soaked in each other's appearances.

Pietro smiled and bounced excitedly on his heels. "You look so pretty!" He told her. She almost melted at the sound of the word ‘pretty’ in his accent.

She looked away from him and smiled. “Thank you. It took me a while to put it all together. It was odd seeing him out of 'Quicksilver mode', but he had a surprisingly normal almost-hipster fashion taste. Tight white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, slightly worn black jeans, very worn brown leather shoes. "You ran in those?" Nia asked.

He nodded. "It wasn’t easy, but I made a pit stop and got flowers for you." He handed her a small bouquet of bright pink azaleas. "They're beautiful as you are."

"They're lovely." She blushed and sniffed them before setting them on the coffee table and locking the door behind her. "You look handsome."

"Thank you. I tried to impress you."

"You did impress me."

"Very good, my job is done." They laughed and he bit his lip. "Forgive me if this isn't super nice, I am still new to... America."

"I’m new to New York, I spent most of my life before college in Philadelphia.” She told him. “Besides, it doesn't matter where we go, Pietro, we'll have a good time regardless."

"I hope so, Nia. I feel I overstepped my boundaries the other day."

Obviously he’d been thinking about it as much as she had. She shook her head. "It was really fun. It was exactly what I needed."

"Are you sure? I want to know if you feel disrespected or-"

She covered his mouth. "Pietro, I was cool with it. Relax."

"This is good, I thought I fucked up." He extended his elbow and she linked arms with him. They walked out onto the street and Pietro looked around at everything. "You know, this is the first time I've been out here without my sister."

"Yeah, well..." She sighed. "It's my first real fucking date."

His eyebrows raised in shock. "You're fucking with me."

She shook her head. “I spend my days off working, playing video games, reading science articles, and playing any pianos I can get my hands on. All alone.”

He thought about this for a bit. "So, wait… In the closet, that was the first time you-"

“No, no, but I’ve only done it once before, and I was drunk off my ass.” She told him. “It’s okay if you think that’s weird and don’t want to go out with me, I mean who wants to go out with a quiet little inexperienced girl.”

He laughed. “You think this means something to me?”

“Doesn’t it mean something to everyone?”

“Not everyone. I think it’s more fun. You get new experience…” He leaned in close to whisper into her ear. “I get to be the first to see what you can do.” She shivered when his lips brushed the space between her ear and her jaw. God, he was sexy. "I can’t believe you’ve never been on a date… Ridiculous!" He pulled her closer, she could smell his musky, manly cologne. "This night has to be memorable."

"What do you have in mind?" She asked.

"Fuck restaurants! We will see the best New York has to offer: Central Park."

She smiled excitedly. "Really? Like tourists?"

“Exactly like tourists!” He exclaimed. "We will eat food from a truck!"

"There’s a chance you might regret that later, but sure. I’m down."

"What are we waiting for?" He asked. "I can get us there in no time. Wanda and I went once."

"Did you like it? I haven’t had time to do much sightseeing."

He shrugged. "I thought it was nice, my sister was overwhelmed by the crowd." He picked her up. "Let's go to the park."

Pietro carried her to Central Park within moments. She still couldn't get used to that, it was so disorienting. They were just a blur of silver and blue together. Time moved slower around them. It was new to her, but this how the world always looked to him.

"You don't think it looks odd when you just, you know, run places like that?" She asked him, trying to regain balance. His hands went to her back to help her get steady.

"If it does, I don't care. It's cool."

She smiled. "I think your sister has the cooler power."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh you do?"

"I do."

"She is great, but she would get nowhere on time without me."

Nia rolled her eyes. "You are a quick moving Sokovian ego, Pietro."

"I have an ego because I can back it up." He told her. "Why not have a little bit of an ego? I think you should have an ego, Nia Miller."

"Why's that?"

"You're amazing. What you're doing will soon rival Stark and Banner."

"I wouldn't say all that."

"Well, if you won't say it, I will."

They walked over to a crepe cart and both decided to get the sugariest dessert crepes they could. Then they sat on a bench in the middle of the park, talked about anything that came to mind, and listened to a group of violinists play nearby. After about an hour it became apparent that they were so different, but somehow they fit so well together. Nia was quiet, and a bit reserved. Pietro, although he had quite the serious side, was playful and spontaneous. They brought out the best in each other, and they became quite open as the night progressed.

Plus, Pietro was really good at making Nia laugh.

“I have a minor suggestion.” He told her.

“Oh God, for what?”

“The Iron Man suit.”

She smiled. “I don’t quite have access to that, yet.”

“When you do, you should re-design Stark’s next suit with a little dick hidden somewhere.”

She threw her head back and laughed. “I should!”

“What’s stopping you?”

“He’s so observant, he’d notice. Then he’d laugh about it, and that ruins the whole joke.”

Pietro laughed. “You’re right, you’re right. Maybe when he’s old and loses vision.”

“That is super fucking hilarious, you know what else would be cool?”

“What?”

“If I gave him, like, super impractical iron tits with big nipples.”

Pietro doubled over in laughter. It was the hardest she’d made anyone laugh before. His laugh was so genuine and contagious, it made her laugh with him.

After a short moment of laughter, they sat in silence, smiling and shifting closer to each other centimeters at time. Each hoping the other wouldn’t notice them trying to close the empty space and wondering what they thought about each other.

"You know I was genuinely shocked when you said you thought I was beautiful." Nia said.

He nodded. "I know."

"I'm still shocked."

He turned his body towards her. "Why?”

She shrugged and put her head down. “I’m not the pretty girl.” She told him. “I’m not that super-gorgeous extrovert who has a hundred guys lining up just to hold her shopping bags. I’m… forgettable… You’re stunning and you’re an Avenger and you have the cutest accent. You could have anyone you wanted and yet somehow you settled for me.”

He looked out into the distance thinking of a way to respond. It hurt him that Nia felt that way about herself. “Sometimes I wake up and feel amazed that my sister and I are even alive, you know? We easily could have died a thousand times over. When I feel this way, I start to see beauty in everything. Things as small as breathing and the way people walk and laughter. So, when I see something that’s actually beautiful, I stop and I stare and I know I have to have the beautiful thing in my life, the beautiful thing will… Shit, how do I say this in English?... Uh, teach me something about myself that I do not already realize. Do you understand?”

“I think so…”

“You are this beautiful thing, Nia. Now, I know you’re beautiful inside as well as outside. I’m not settling for anything, I _chose_ you.”

Her head was down, but her eyes were wide open. She was taking in all of his words, she could feel his sincerity in her heart. “You mean that?”

“I try not to say things I don’t believe.” He told her. “I really like you.”

She grinned and laid her head on his chest. "I like you, too."

"Nice, this has been a success so far."

"Wanda's still cooler."

"I can not believe you are a woman of science and you believe such lies!" He said dramatically.

"You sound jealous."

"Sometimes I am, but only because she gets to move stuff with her mind."

"See what I mean? That's fucking awesome. You're a glorified track star. You’re like Dash from The Incredibles."

He laughed. "Oh God, that’s true."

“You don’t know how happy I am that you actually got that reference.”

“Everyone gets Disney movies. Everyone.” He paused for a moment then broke down laughing again. “That means Wanda is Violet.”

Nia started screaming with laughter. An elderly couple passing by smiled at them. “If it makes you feel any better I call Clint ‘Katniss’.”

“That’s the Hunger Games movie, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Stark calls him ‘Legolas’ from Lord of the Rings.”

“Hmm, I might use that later.”

He stopped laughing and looked down at her. “You’re so cute.”

"No, you’re cute. like cuter than cute."

"Cute enough to kiss?" He asked with a smirk.

She leaned up and kissed him gently, sweetly, like she had before. Her soft lips tasted like sugar. He remembered them tasting like mint before. He would forever associate sugar and mint with the sweetness of Nia Miller.

She pulled away and ran her fingers across her lips. “You know we haven’t done any of the cutesy first date stuff like ‘what’s your favorite color?’”

He grinned, his eyes still focused on her lips. “It’s blue, what’s your’s?”

“Blue.”

He placed his hand beneath her chin. “Favorite food?”

“Baked ziti. You?”

“I don't really have one, you get used to eating the same things when you're broke in Sokovia.” His eyes darted up to her’s. He slowly bridged the gap between them again. “But I don’t think I’ll be getting used to you anytime soon.”

“People always get used to me, they always get bored.”

He shook his head. “How could I get bored of you?”

She was so struck by his words that she couldn’t think of a response. She couldn’t think of anything. It was the first time anyone had said something like that to her, and she knew he meant it. “Pietro…”

Pietro had already decided that he wanted to say goodnight in a way fitting Nia. She’d ignited a feeling in him that he couldn’t quite describe. She made him feel lighter than he’d felt in a while. For the few hours he was with her, he had no troubles, no worries. It was just her and him. No Avengers, no world to save. Just two people having an actual normal human experience. He wanted just one more moment where it could be just her and him. Where he could be human.

“Nia, this is bold of me to ask you,” He said. “But I have had a wonderful time, and would like nothing more than to take you home and make you feel everything I’m feeling for you. Is that okay?”

She swallowed and felt both desire and nervousness in her stomach. She didn’t want to disappoint him. “I haven’t done it often… Are you sure?”

“Yes, Nia.” He pulled her in by her waist. “I’m very sure.”

She grinned. “Then so am I.”

 


	2. Unprofessional Conduct

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, this is porn lmao.  
> Thanks for reading! Tell me if this is awful.

He picked her up and carried her back to her apartment building, setting her down right outside the door. She fumbled for her keys and he stood behind her, pressing kisses against the back of her neck.

"You're gonna make me drop my keys." She said in almost a moan.

"Don't think about it." He wrapped his arms around her waist and trailed his fingers to the fly of her jeans.

She scraped her teeth against her bottom lip. "Pietro, not out here!"

"Why not? It is a beautiful night."

She lowered her voice so no one else could hear. "It's a busy New York Street. You can't fucking finger me out here."

"I'm just eliminating one obstacle."

She giggled. "You play too much."

"I know, I want to play with you."

She led him up to her apartment and got them inside. "Before we do this, do you want anything? Water?"

"Are you stalling?"

"Was it obvious?"

"You really don't have to do this if you aren't ready." He told her. "I'll understand. I'll wait."

"No, I want to... I just don't want to disappoint you."

He walked closer to her and took her hands. "The only way you could do that is if you don't scream my name as loud as you did in the closet." He said. "Even then, the real disappointment in that case is me." He picked her up. Her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms wrapped around his neck. "Tonight, Nia, is all about you and what you want. Tell me what you want."

She smiled. "I want you to fuck me..."

"As you wish."

He carried her to her room and laid her down on the bed. She kicked off her heels and he crawled on top of her. He kissed her, slower now that they had time and privacy. His hands roamed her sides as if he were mapping out everything he wanted to do to her.

"Your body is perfect." He whispered, kissing her from her jaw to her neck.

"You haven't seen all of it yet."

He looked into her eyes with that twinkle in his that was already driving her crazy. "I don't need to. Your body is perfect, because it belongs to you."

"Did you come up with that yourself?"

He smiled. "I might have seen it in a movie."

She giggled. "I thought so."

"At least I got to hear you laugh. It is win-win for me."

He kissed her shoulders, stopping right where her sleeves began. She sat up and lifted her shirt over her head. She hesitated before touching her bra.

"Will you let me see all of you?" He asked.

She nodded and snapped her bra then threw it to the side. He stared at her, it was hard for him not to. Everything from Nia's eyes to the way her bare chest looked as she took breaths was gorgeous to him, especially since the world moved so much slower to him. He had all the time in the world to enjoy this girl.

He took off his own shirt and Nia couldn't even focus on one particular muscle. All that running was paying off. Pietro Maximoff was a stunner, a sight she'd never forget.

He laid her back down and kissed in between her breasts and around her ribs. His hands moved with him, he kissed her stomach and her hips. Her breath got caught in her throat as he reached the border of her unzipped jeans.

He hooked his fingers beneath the waistline of her jeans and used his speed to pull them off of her as quickly as possible. Then he spread her legs apart and started rubbing her through her panties. He placed his leg between her thighs. She moaned louder and arched her back as he replaced his the palm of his hand with his knee. He was gently massaging her with his knee while she rolled her hips against him, it felt heavenly. His goal was for her to be as wet as possible, and it was working.

"Pietro where... Did you-AH! Learn this?"

"You like it?"

"Yes! God, yes!"

When he could practically smell her sexy scent, he stopped grinding her with his knee, and pulled her soaking panties off.

"Do you want my tongue?" He asked her. She nodded.

He kneeled in front of the bed and pulled her legs over his shoulders. He kissed from her knees, down to her thighs stopping right before his lips touched her where she wanted him to. He reached up and linked their fingers together, winking at her before licking her sweetness for the first time. He licked and sucked her outer lips and she moved her hips forward. He circled around the clit and then quickly dipped his tongue inside of her which garnered a high pitched response that warmed his heart. Then, he sucked at her sensitive clit. The nerves had gone so touch starved for so long that the stimulation felt twice as powerful.

"Fuck!" She said in a heavy breath. "Don't stop."

He wasn't planning on it. In fact, as soon as those words escaped her lips, he made his tongue vibrate for only a short moment before stopping abruptly. She almost screamed.

He went back to sucking on her then vibrated quickly again. It was torture. He kept it going on like this as long as he could, stopping and starting, getting her to the very edge and pulling away.

"Please, fuck, I'm so close!" She moaned. Her body was begging for release. "Please, Pietro."

He vibrated against her one more time. Holding it as long as it took for her jaw to drop and her eyes to squeeze shut as her orgasm flowed through her. Her nails dug into the sheets beneath her and a loud moan echoed off her bedroom walls.

He was too goddamn proud of himself.

He cleaned her off with his tongue and pulled a condom from the back of his jeans while she came down from her haze. She rubbed circles around her wetness to get herself ready. But she wasn't ready for Pietro, because as soon as that underwear came off, she stopped thinking about anything else.

"Holy shit..."

"This?" He gestured to his amazing dick and shrugged. "It's alright."  

"Holy fucking shit, that might hurt."

"Not if I've done everything else right, and I hope I have."

He slipped on the condom and climbed between her legs, making eye contact with her, so tenderly, so gently. He made sure she was comfortable and calm before slowly moving inside of her for the first time.

He stopped for a moment and touched his forehead to hers. “So good…” He pulled out and went in a little further, trying to let her adjust around him.

"Are... you okay?" He asked. She nodded. "Tell me if this hurts."

"I'm great." She whispered. She held his face and kissed him

He smiled against her lips and held onto her tight as he pulled out and pushed in as far as he could. Her heartbeat was racing against his. He kissed her neck and slowly started stroking in and out of her.

She wrapped her arms around him, scraping her teeth into his skin as he grunted and swore in her ear. He honestly couldn't remember a time when he'd felt this good. It was as if she were his perfect fit.

As he sped up, she left scratches on his back. The sound of him thrusting into her was audible, loud, skin colliding with skin. It was a wonder her bed could even handle it as it squeaked underneath them.

He pulled out, sat up and pulled her onto his lap. She kissed him desperately, tangling fingers in his hair, and letting her own hair down. Pietro held her face and smiled. "You are so fucking beautiful tonight."

"Well, I had to impress you." She said, repeating his words from earlier.

She stroked his erection and lowered herself around him. He thrust upward and loud moans spilled from her. She rolled her hips on him and tried keeping up with his pace. With the noise they were making, she'd be hearing from a neighbor later.

Pietro, the humble sex god, decided to kick it up a notch. He learned a long time ago that anything he did could be done faster, including thrusting. He gradually sped up. He stared into Nia's beautiful eyes as he did. He knew she wouldn't be able to keep up, he didn't mind, he wanted her to feel this, feel everything he could do.  Soon, he was going almost as fast as he could, faster that most regular men could ever dream of going.

She threw her head back as he delivered all promises of pleasure. She'd never felt anything like it. He was already hitting her good spot when he made his fingers vibrate against her clit.

"YES! PLEASE, YES!" She screamed. She threw her head back and he kissed her neck.

She came suddenly, over and over. It seemed like every climax was better, stronger than the last. Every time her walls tightened around him, he was brought so much closer to his own release.

As he neared the edge, he held her by her waist and tried to go a little deeper. The feeling was too much for Nia and she came again.

“Fuck, Nia…” He buried his head in the crook of her neck and finally released, shutting his eyes and slowing his thrusts. When he stopped he lifted his head up and kissed her. They were breathless and beautiful.

He pulled out and they fell on the bed next to each other. "What... The fuck..." Nia whispered. Her clit was still throbbing, she could barely sit up. "I'm so... What the fuck?"

He laughed. "Take your time."

"You are the best date I've ever had and that was the greatest moment of my life." She told him.

He turned to her. "That is high praise and I can say the same to you." He kissed her shoulders and saw the purple love marks he'd left on her brown skin. "We should go to the movies next time."

"I'd love that!" She told him. "You are, without a doubt, the sweetest man I've ever met."

"Not what everyone else thinks. Wanda and I are outsiders, like Vision. Some, like Clint, they like us, sure, but there will always be this odd man out feeling."

"Well, you're odd. You mostly keep to yourself, but that's you. That's all you can be. I always feel like I'm the odd one out."

"At least we're odd together."

She sighed. "Yeah, until Tony finds out..."

"He won't." Pietro insisted. "We just have to be smarter than Stark."

She grinned and pulled her blanket over her body. "I'm not confident about whatever your plan is, but I like it."

He kissed her forehead and threw the condom away, then speedily got dressed. "It will not be easy, but it's doable."

She was sad to see him go. "Tell Wanda I said 'Hi'."

"She can read minds, I don't think this will be a problem." He got ready to run out, but first he smiled at her. "I'll see you Monday, Nia, but I’ll phone you before then."

He sped off and she sighed blissfully. The smell of sex still hung in the air. She was ready to go to sleep when-

_Buzzzzzz!_

"Who the fuck is at my damn door this late at night?" She asked herself aloud.

She put on her robe and walked to the door, her hair looked completely out of order but she still tried to manage it last minute. She opened the door and the neighbor from the floor above her was standing there. He was shorter than her, his hair was a white combover. He's never been married and bothering neighbors was probably why.

"Are you aware of the time?" He asked in his nasally voice. "Keep it in your pants or keep it quiet down here. What’s the new person living across from you going to think if they hear you having loud sex late at night?"  

_He acts like this is a common occurrence._ Nia nodded and agreed. "Sorry."

"I hope he actually was that good or that's the best fake orgasm I've ever heard."

"Goodbye, Mr. Green.”

He raised a bushy eyebrow. “Oh, so it _was_ real?”

She shut the door in his face and went to bed.


	3. Good News and Terrible Liars

That Monday, Nia walked into the Avengers facility with a cup of coffee in one hand and her cell phone in the other. Tony had sent about forty texts asking her to get into the lab earlier than usual for some ‘surprise’. She didn’t even have time to do her hair beyond a quick bun.

She made it into the lab and Tony pulled her out of the elevator. “Great, you’re here.”

“What’s going on, Tony? Is something malfunctioning again?”

He grinned. “Nope! It’s an early birthday present.”

“My birthday isn’t happening for a few months. This is a bit more than early.”

“It’ll be cool, I promise.”

“I thought your idea of cool involved alcohol.”

“Often, but not always.”

The lab was dark except for the light from her phone. It beeped with a text from Pietro and she quickly turned the screen off. Tony turned on the lights and Nick Fury was stood there with that eternally serious look on his face. Nia felt intimidated. She put her coffee down on one of the lab tables and shoved her cell phone into her messenger bag.

“Um, hi, um, Mr. Fury, sir? Do I call you sir? Do I call you-”

“Fury is just fine, Miss. Miller.” He told her.

“Okay, got it, Fury.”

“Well, I didn’t come here to discuss names. I came here because Tony seems to think you are one of the Avengers’ greatest new assets.” Fury told her. “He thinks you could be an integral part of the future of the team. He’s talked about this with you, right?”

“Y-yes, he has!” Nia looked at Tony then back to Fury, then back to Tony. “I, um, I try my best, sir.”

“She’s one of the best scientists you’ll get right now. She learned the full mechanics of the suit within an hour, she’s an expert in Artificial Intelligence, Dr. Helen Cho also voices her recommendation.” Tony said. “Basically she’s the best damn thing to happen to this team since Vision showed up.”

Fury grinned. “You don’t have to sell her to me, Stark, I’ve already decided to hire her.”

Nia gasped. “For real?”

“Yes, for real.”

She covered her mouth. “Wait, wait, wait, what are the conditions? There have to be conditions.”

Fury shrugged. “I mean if you _aren’t_ interested in full insurance benefits, a place to stay in the facility if your apartment gets destroyed for some reason-”

“And it probably will, part of the job. Kind of an initiation at this point.” Tony added. “Sorry, Nick, carry on.”

Fury cleared his throat. “As I was saying, you get full access to all the Avengers tech.”

“Including Sam’s wings?” She asked. The Falcon suit was her dream. It was something she’d been low-key stalking the whole time she’d had the job. She’d made this very clear to Sam himself when they first met. He half-jokingly said he’d let her do anything she wanted to the suit if she helped him start an all-Black Avengers team.

Fury nodded. “Sam’s wings, the Iron Patriot suit, Steve’s suit, Natasha’s Widow’s Bite, everything. I’d strongly recommend you not tell anyone outside of the agency that you’re working with the Avengers, you can tell your mom but that's it.”

“Understood.”

“If you do accept the position you’ll be under internship status for about five weeks which means the same old same old for another month while paperwork gets processed and you get trained for a permanent position. Ask Dr. Cho about that if you’re worried.”

_Wait…_ “So, Tony’s rules for five more weeks?”

Tony looked at her, almost offended. “Don’t sound so excited.”

“No, it’s just… It’s not you, I like working under you.”

“Since Hydra broke most of S.H.I.E.L.D, a lot of the paperwork involved with the Avengers Initiative takes longer to process.” Fury explained. “Things will be faster once we get stabilized.”

“Just stick it out a few more weeks and then you can be the superstar scientist you were always meant to be without ever being obligated to see me more than you have to.” Tony told her.

She grinned. “Not getting rid of me that easily.”

“So you’ll take the job?” Tony asked.

Nia looked between Fury and Tony and thought of all the possibilities opening up to her. There was so much to consider, so much to look forward to. There was a time where she thought she had no future, no life ahead of her, and here she was being offered a permanent position with The Avengers.

“Well, I’m not an idiot, Tony.”

He patted her on the back. “I know you aren’t.”

“Run it past Steve and Natasha. Welcome to the Avengers, Miss. Miller.”

With that, Fury walked out. Nia furrowed her brows and looked at Tony. “He’s really intimidating.”

“He’s also legally dead.”

* * *

Pietro was wandering the halls after training when he heard someone whistle at him. He looked around and didn’t see anyone, so he just kept walking. Then, he heard it again and ran to what he thought was the source, a storage closet.

"Is someone in there?" He asked.

The door opened and Nia was standing there. “Only me.”

He smiled and kissed her. “Why are you hiding in the closet?”

“I saw you coming and I wanted to bug you.” She told him.

“Where are you off to?”

“I have to get some forms filled out.” She said with a smile. “Boring legal shit.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You’re smiling?”

“Pietro, I will be a permanent scientist here in five weeks.”

He gasped and lifted her up off the ground. “You’ve worked so hard for this! Good!” Then, he really thought about what she said. “Five weeks? I don't get it.”

“I’m an intern for the next month and then my status officially changes.”

“So, we…”

“Still can’t _openly_ be together.” She said with a sigh. “We still have to sneak around, but it’s only for a few weeks, I promise.”

He ran his fingers through his hair. “It’ll be fine.”

"I mean, it won't keep me from seeing you."

"Well, of course." He rolled his tired shoulders. "What movie do you want to see this weekend?"

"I don't know, I like all kinds of movies."

"I can't really sit through horror movies." He admitted. "Too much."

"Yeah, I figured. We could see an action movie."

"A really bad one?"

She smiled. "Where have you been all my life?"

He laughed. "Sokovia."

They heard footsteps approaching and stepped away from each other. Rhodey came walking around the corner arguing about something with Tony as usual. Nia always found that entertaining since they loved each other.

“Hey, it’s our new scientist.” Tony said. “Everything sinking in yet? Feelin’ tingly?”

She shook her head. “It’s a little overwhelming still.”

“You get used to everything eventually.” Rhodey assured her with a grin. He turned to Pietro. “What are you doing out here?”

He thought of something quickly. “I was on my way to the bathroom and ran into Nia, she told me the news.”

“Huh, didn’t know you two hung out.” Tony said. “Makes sense, you’re the same age. Young, smart, you both have weird hair colors.”

“Her hair color isn’t weird.”

“His hair color isn’t weird.”

_Oh fuck we said that at the same time…_ They looked at each other then back at Tony and Rhodey.

"Okay?" Tony said.

Nia chuckled nervously. “That was crazy, right?” _We are not good at this_.

“Hey, I mean if you get Nat to stand next to you, you could be the American flag.” Rhodey told them. A lot of forced laughter followed that joke.

Tony and Rhodey said goodbye to Nia and Pietro and continued on their way. Once the two were out of earshot, they let out a deep sigh of relief. They laughed at how terribly that went, and the thought of how terribly it could’ve gone.

“We will get better, hopefully.” Pietro said.

Nia leaned on the wall. “Shit, I hope we get better before they walk in on us having sex somewhere. Wouldn't that be a fun way to let them know we're together?”

Pietro thought about it. "It would certainly be... bold."

She grinned and turned to go get the paperwork like she’d set out to do in the first place. “See you later.”

He gently pulled her back to him and smirked. “Goodbye kiss?”

She pulled him by the collar of his shirt and kissed him so passionately he was caught off-guard. He got into it and placed his hand on her waist. When she pulled away he almost lost balance.

“That good enough for you?”

He nodded. "You're so sexy..."

She winked and walked away. "Do what you have to do, Pietro." He picked her up and carried her back towards the storage closet. She giggled. "Really? Right now? Someone could hear."

"Everyone is in training." He assured her. "You said 'do what you have to do'."

They locked the door behind them and did what they had to do.

* * *

After work, she handed in her paperwork and headed straight home. She was tired and honestly just wanted to sink into her bed and die. Or watch some tv and die on the couch.

Outside the apartment across the way was a group of cardboard boxes. One of which had a Lord of the Rings boxset sitting right on top. She, being a dork, went over to check it out. She’d always wanted it but never had the money.

“Extended editions of the entire fucking trilogy? Boss shit…” She whispered.

A young woman, about Nia’s age, carried another box up the stairs. She had short brown hair and a floral sundress. She must have been straight out of college, too.

She noticed Nia inspecting the set. “You like LotR?” She asked.

“I love it! I have a poster of Aragorn in my living room, a Kili bobblehead, and leather bound copies of the trilogy, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion.” She told her. When she realized how dorky she sounded, she stopped herself. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s cool, you’re more devoted than I am, I’m impressed. You an English teacher?”

She shook her head. “I’m a scientist.”

“That’s cool, I never had the intelligence for that. I like physical stuff so I’m working on my personal trainer certification.”

“Sweet. Maybe I’ll see you at the gym a few blocks from here sometime.”

“Maybe you will.”

Nia grinned and shook her hand. “I’m Nia, I live over there.”

“I’m Ellie. I just moved over here.” She said. “Do you like it here?”

Nia laughed. “When Mr. Green doesn’t pay me a visit, it’s tolerable.” She said. “Don’t overuse the tap or you’ll break it and the landlord will only pay halfway to get it fixed.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. What about living near you, anything I should know?”

She shrugged. “I’m pretty quiet.” She told her. Suddenly, she remembered Saturday night. “Oh, um, unless my, um… friend is here, then we... then I’m not that quiet.”

Ellie smiled. “You go, girl.”

“Yeah, he’s really hot, tall, has white-ish silver hair, blue eyes, thick Sokovian accent.” _Wow he doesn’t sound real at all now that I’ve described him to someone_. “He’s real, I promise. He’s not an anime protagonist.”

She laughed. “I’ll take your word for it.”

“You need help with that stuff?”

“No, I’m fine. I’ll see you around, Nia.”

“See you, Ellie.”

She went into her apartment and sunk into the couch. _Everything will be fine_.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually toned down my knowledge of Lord of the Rings to write this. It took so much restraint.


	4. Two Giggly Dorks Under The Night Sky

Being Tony Stark’s party guest of honor is like having the most popular guy at school be your prom date, and Nia was enjoying every second. It was so nice of him to throw it for her in the first place, and to her it was him officially saying she was his colleague. It was a little surreal, but she never partied with The Avengers before, and when would she ever get to do it again?

She was talking to Sam at the bar. Her heels were starting to hurt her feet so she slipped them off when she sat on the barstool. They watched the other Avengers dance and laughed at the rather… _unique_ moves.

“See, even white people with superpowers can’t dance.” Sam joked.

Nia shook her head. Pietro was across the room with Wanda, sneaking smiles and glances over to her when no one was looking. She smiled over to him before responding to Sam’s joke. “Their expertise is on a battlefield, not a dancefloor.”

“Not an excuse. I can dance.” He said. “You gonna drink or what, girl?”

She poured a shot of whiskey. “Good enough for ya, Sam?”

Sam nodded. “When you drink, you _drink_.”

“I don’t like to half-ass things. In science or in life.”

“I can respect that. Speakin’ of ass, Pietro has been staring at yours all night.” He told her. “Anything going on?”

She choked on her drink and shook her head. Then she stopped when she realized it was getting excessive. “It’s, um- no, no, no- I can’t really date any of you until my internship ends.” She poured herself another shot.

“But you want to, don’t you? I can tell.”

She took the shot and shook her head. “No, I mean, he’s cool and we chill but I don’t like him that way.”

“Right, right, sure... So, after the internship is up we can talk about you beefin’ up my wings?”

She smiled and nodded. “We can talk about it now, I just can’t do anything to them.”

“Tell me your ideas, girl.”

“You’re not ready.”

Across the room, Wanda and Pietro were talking about their time on the team so far. Well, Wanda was, Pietro was distracted.

“I think they’re still not used to us.” She said. “We’re lucky we got invited to this party.”

Pietro shrugged, his eyes turned to Nia. “I think they were going to invite us anyway. They may not be used to us, but I think they’re starting to like us.”

She tried to follow his eyes. “Brother, where were you Saturday night?”

He smiled. “Nowhere, I was sleeping.”

She looked inside his mind and then tried not to look too scarred by what she found. “Far from it...”

“You know, that power is little invasive.”

“Pietro, what are you doing, exactly?”

He smiled. “Making American friends.”

“Pietro.”

“She is just so smart and sweet and beautiful…”

“I know she is, I’ve met her. I also know she’s not allowed to be dating you.” Wanda reminded him. “What if someone finds out before her internship ends? She could get fired, she’ll never forgive you.”

“No one will find out, no worries.”

“No worries?”

“No worries.”

“Unbelievable.” She said. "You were never good at hiding your feelings, especially romantic ones.”

"We'll work it out. It’s only a month or so." He turned to her, his eyes pleading for her approval. “You’re my sister, and I love you more than I love myself.”

“And I love you.”

“So, I need you to help us if I ask you to. Nia never would ask this of you.”

“She’s smart.”

“Please, Wanda. I’ve never asked you for anything. I just… _Ја стварно стало до ње_. I think she could help me get used to all of this. You know, America. Just for a month.” 

She let out a deep sigh. While she did like Nia, and loved her brother, the last thing she needed was for them to get in trouble. Still, he really liked her and, evidently, she liked him too. Who was she to get in their way? Especially since she knew how it felt to feel things for a team member.

"Alright, I'll do it." She told him. "But if this goes to shit, it is all on you two."

Pietro smiled at her. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet, Steve is about to ask your lady to dance with him."

His eyes shot up to the bar where Steve was talking to Nia. She seemed shy as usual at first but then nodded and smiled at him before everyone at the bar went to the dancefloor with him.

Pietro grinned. "I mean, why should I worry?" The grip on his glass tightened.

Wanda grinned. "The glass did nothing to you."

“I mean, it’s Steve, everyone likes Steve...”

It really was nothing to worry about. The conversation was as chaste as they come.

“Finally, a normal person.” Steve said. “Well, I mean, as far as I can tell.”

Nia smiled. “I’m not as normal as you’d think.”

“Of course not, you’re working here, but you’re still basically a civilian and I don’t get to talk to those very often.”

She nodded in understanding. “Must be tough. Seems like you’d need a break once in a while.”

He shrugged. “I think I’m kind of used to wars and fighting by now. I haven’t seen much else for the past few years.”

“Well, I’m always in the lab with Tony if you need a small moment of normalcy, whatever that means.” She said. “If you don’t mind dealing with Mr. Snark for a bit, of course.”

“From what I’ve heard, you two are getting along well.”

She nodded. “He’s very cool if you basically ignore him for two weeks.”

He laughed. “Two weeks, wow, are you sure you don’t have superpowers?”

“Nope, just an annoying old neighbor.” She suddenly remembered something she promised herself she’d do if she ever held an extended conversation with Steve. “I heard you have a list of shit to catch you up, I have a few suggestions.”

“Shoot.”

“The Supremes, Steven Universe, The Twilight Zone, and Toy Story.”

He quickly wrote it all down and smiled up at her. “Great, thanks.”

Pietro appeared at Nia’s side, startling her a bit. She smiled at him like a teenager with a crush and then tried to cover it up. _There’s definitely an art to this, I might have to ask Nat for tips. She could win an Oscar._

“I was wondering if I could have a dance with our new scientist.”

Almost too quickly, Nia said “Sure.”

Steve stepped out of his way. “All yours, kid.”

Once Steve was out of earshot, Nia punched Pietro in the arm, but it ended up only hurting her. “Really?! You want me to dance with you and also pretend not to like you? Really, Pietro? Come on. It’s like day four.”

“Technically it is day six.” He chuckled and twirled her around. “I saw you with Steve and I don’t know…”

She leaned in to whisper, “It’s too early in the relationship for you to be feeling jealous.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, you cute goof, you’re just compromising the operation. Talk to me about something that isn’t couple-y.” She almost laughed at herself when she said that. “God, I am too tipsy to argue right now.”

“You look so beautiful in this dress.”

She giggled. “You’re ridiculous. What did I literally just say?”

“Okay, okay, I’ll stop playing with you now.”

“Good… You can do that later.”

He bit his lip and she blew some stray hair from her face. “So, why blue?”

“My hair?” He nodded. “Well, I think it’s a calm color. It’s the color of the seas and the sky. This shade of blue is somewhere between light and dark and, I don’t know, it fit me. Why white?”

“I just like it.”

Nia smiled. “You’re a man of simple pleasures, I guess.”

“The best pleasures are simple.” He replied with a smirk. “That color does fit you. I have to recolor my own hair.”

“I could help you, I have enough bleach to color Rapunzel’s hair.” She pushed his hair back to look at his roots, but got distracted by his eyes. “It’s, yeah… Shouldn’t be… a problem.”

“Look who is compromising the operation now.”

“Maybe if you weren’t so sexy we wouldn’t have this problem. Do you have any better ideas?” She asked.

He nodded. “Follow my lead.” He started dancing towards the door, Nia dancing closely behind him, admiring the fact that this White boy had serious rhythm. Plus, it was a damn Earth, Wind, and Fire song. She was impressed. “Ooh, quick, grab drinks.”

“What do you want?”

“Vodka.”

“Predictable, but okay.”

Nia grabbed the entire bottle of peach Ciroc and was about to walk off with it when Sam caught her. “Where you going? It’s your party!”

“Parties are great and all but I’m escaping with that dude.” She said, pointing to Pietro.

Sam nodded. “Hey, Pietro can actually dance. Never woulda guessed.”

“Yeah, he’s full of surprises.”

“Well, I’m glad he found someone to chill with that’s his age.” Sam told her. “I was worried the poor kid would have a hard time adjusting.”

“Yeah, well, I think he’s rad and I don’t have many friends either, so it just kinda... worked out.”

“Don’t get him too drunk, he might have to carry you home.”

_Won’t be a problem, he knows where I live._ “Yeah, that’s good thinking, I’ll ask if he can.” She cleared her throat. “Tell Tony I stepped out, okay?”

“Sure.”

“Your loyalty is legendary, Sam Wilson.”

“So they tell me, kid. So they tell me…”

* * *

They went up to the roof of the facility, which was quickly becoming their spot, passing the bottle of vodka back and forth and looking out into the trees. Nia leaned on Pietro with her heels set off to the side. The conversation came in spurts as they were really just enjoying being in each other’s company.

“What’d you want to be when you were a kid, huh?” Nia asked him.

He shrugged. “Honestly, I had no clue. Futures were not really a thing to consider when I was young. Did you always want to be a scientist?”

“No, I wanted to be a makeup artist.” She giggled to herself. “Work on movie sets and shit. I still kinda do.”

He grinned. “Work on the hobbits?”

“Yeah. That was the dream. Then science found me… Or I found science… I think we read Frankenstein in school and I took away a lesson Mary Shelley probably hadn’t intended.”

“It’s good, you are here now.”

“I just hope I don’t end up creating a monster.” She took a sip of the vodka and passed it to him. “All I’ve ever wanted to do was make people happy, hoping it would somehow make me happy.”

“You will,” he told her. “I want the same thing.”

Nia smiled and rubbed his back. “It’s not hard for you to make people happy, Pietro.”

“Do I make you happy?” He asked. “I want to.”

“So far you’ve done a fantastic job. Ten out of ten.”

He chuckled and took a sip. “Aside from pulling you into closets, yes?”

“A little less kidnapping would be nice but, I mean, I’m not complaining about what we _did_ in the closet.”

“I know you would not complain about that...” She playfully smacked him on the arm and he pretended to be hurt. “You are so offended now but you weren’t when you were like ‘oh fuck, Pietro!’” He imitated her O-face and started rubbing his chest. “Oh God, Pietro, don’t stop!”

She laughed and covered her face. “Fuck you!”

They laughed then returned to the silence, following the same airplane with their eyes as it flew above them. If they listened closely they could hear the music playing from the party, but no one could hear them. It was as if they’d carved this moment out of time just to be alone together.

Nia thought of something and turned to Pietro with inquisitive eyes. “Do you ever miss Sokovia?” She asked. She let her legs swing from the edge of the roof. Her eyes drifted back to the sky where she was surprised to see actual stars mixed in with the satellites.

“It’s my home, of course.” He said. A grin formed on his face and he pressed a pensive kiss to her hair. “But I think I’m starting to like it here.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Do you miss Philadelphia?” He asked her in return.

She looked down and fidgeted with the bottle. “I think I love the city, but I don’t love who I was there.” She told him. “Philly is the coolest place but my family was… I don’t know… There was a lot of pressure on me to succeed and conform and be ‘normal’. They wanted me to be a doctor, not to build robots. Here, I’m exactly what I want to be.”

“You are not close to your family?”

She shook her head. “They kind of cut me off when I decided to focus on artificial intelligence. Not an approved career track in the Miller household. I envy you and Wanda, at least you have each other.”

“And you have us.”

She smiled and kissed him, then checked the time on her phone. 11:27 PM. “The facility closes in half an hour.”

Pietro nodded. “I can see people leaving below us, Rhodey and Helen.”

“Soon we won’t have a cover to fall back on.”

“Wanda said she’d help.”

Nia raised an eyebrow. “You asked Wanda?”

“She found out about us herself, I wanted her to help.”

She shook her head. “I don’t want to make this her problem, Pietro.”

“It won’t be a problem.” He told her. “I want to keep Wanda out of it as much as possible, too. Do you really think I would want my little sister to know everything about what I’m doing with my girlfriend?”

“Little sister? You’re twins.”

“I’m older.”

She giggled. “By what? Two seconds?”

“Twelve minutes.”

“Sounds like centuries.” She felt her cheeks get hot when she finally realized what he just said. “Pietro, you just called me your girlfriend.”

“You are my girlfriend.” He said matter-of-factly. “What’s the confusion?”

“Nothing… It just feels weird. Good weird.”

“You are my adorable girlfriend.”

She smiled and sighed. “You’re my boyfriend.”

They heard footsteps behind them and stood up, panicked. It was just Wanda with a smile in her face. “I feel like an ass.”

“What’s going on?” Nia asked.

“No, no, finish this conversation, I can wait in the stairwell.”

“No, come back.”

Wanda backed up. “No, you two continue to be cute and I will leave you to it.” She went into the stairwell and closed the door.

Nia stumbled a bit, and Pietro caught her. “No more for you.” He said half-jokingly.

“With your arms wrapped around me like this, how you know I didn’t do it on purpose?”

“We’re on a fucking roof, Nia!” He gave her the puppy dog eyes. “Please don’t scare me like that.”

“Okay, I’m sorry.”

He took her hand and grinned. “Can’t let anything happen to my… _girlfriend_.”

“Now you’re just saying it to get a reaction.”

“Why would I do that… _girlfriend_?”

She pulled him towards the stairwell. “Stop.”

“Fine…”

“Don’t.”

“ _Girlfriend_.”

They opened the door and Wanda was waiting there like she said she would. “Tony wants to do a toast before everybody leaves.” She told them. “Told me to gather you two wherever you were.”

“Does he know we were together?” Nia asked.

Wanda shook her head. “Well, Sam had him distracted for a bit and then I may have made him think about dancing.”

“Thank you,” Nia told her. “I’m sorry for dragging you into this, Wanda, I’ll-”

Wanda smiled. “You are making my brother happy, so I’m willing to help.” Nia grinned at her. The statement was made all the more sincere by the fact that Wanda could read Pietro's mind... 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Ја стварно стало до ње" is Serbian for "I really care about her".


	5. The Irreplaceable JARVIS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "kendra are you sure you can accurately write this chapter?" yeah, totally, I've done research on AI before, I was into robotics as a smol child, I think I got this.  
> "are you sure?" yeah it's fine  
> "idk..." neither do I, but i'm not fucking quitter. half of this chapter might sound like bullshit terms I'm just throwing around but at least I TRIED.

Nia looked at the broken yellow orb in the center of the room. It was stuttering as if it were still trying to work, but it couldn’t. It was mangled by Ultron. It was the remains of Tony’s oldest friend, but to Nia and Helen it was just JARVIS.

“JARVIS was incredible…” Nia said to Helen. She set her bag off to the side and pulled out her phone. “I don’t feel right looking at this without Tony present, and this isn’t really your area, I can’t-”

Helen shook her head. “He’s in a meeting and told me to advise you before he gets here, it’s fine.”

She pulled her hair back and scanned for any signs of something she could use to rebuild. This was her newest pet project: helping Tony rebuild JARVIS. It wouldn’t have been the same, there was no way, but she’d try to make it close enough.

“Ultron destroyed most of the base programming, so it looks like we may have to start from scratch.” She said. “That alone could take months, years… But if Tony remembers everything, we could get it done in weeks. How long did it take him to build Ultron?”

“It took him and Bruce a few weeks, maybe a month.”

“Yeah, but they already had JARVIS… A fully functioning JARVIS…” She sighed. “I really might have to wait for Tony.”

“There’s nothing you can do now?”

“Not right now. Tony knows JARVIS better than anyone and, even though it’s in tatters, it’s still the most unique system I’ve ever seen. I don’t even know how he came up with it. How the hell did him and Banner come up with Ultron?”

Helen sighed. “With the best intentions…”

“Well, we’d have to come up with an impenetrable algorithm to prevent it from being attacked by Ultron again, then we would have to make sure all the physical components of JARVIS can be synced to the new algorithm, it’s not gonna be easy.”

Helen laughed. “You just made it sound very easy.”

She nodded. “It’s a bad habit. I’ve been around tech nerds for so many years that I’ve kinda forgotten that not everyone instantly knows this stuff.” She sat in a chair by JARVIS and frustratedly ran her hands over her face. “Basically, we need to start from the beginning using whatever we can pull from this mess. It could take forever, but it’s not impossible.”

“You know, you might be right, it might be easier once Tony gets here.”

“I hope so.” She said. “I can’t believe he’s letting me help him with this.”

“I heard you’re also going to be helping Sam soon.”

“Yes, I’m so excited!” She bounced in her seat. “Sam is the coolest dude on the planet. I studied in Wakanda for a summer and got a few contacts so I might be able to get enough vibranium to implement my plans for his suit. I hope so, it would be fucking awesome.”

“Big stuff. Hard to believe you’ve only been here a month. Then, in less than five weeks you’ll be a fully-fledged scientist with the Avengers.”

“Yeah, well, time flies when you’re having fun I guess. The next thing on my list is meeting Thor.” She said. She looked off into the distance with a dreamy expression. “Oh my gosh, Thor… Strictly because of Asgardian tech, of course. Nothing else.”

“Sure!” Helen smiled. “He’s even more unreal up close.”

“Impossible! I heard his biceps are like the size of a human head!”

Tony walked in and tossed a container of blackberries to Nia. “I hope you’re talking about me.” He sat across from them and moved close to JARVIS. “What’s the verdict, boss?”

Nia’s eyes widened and she pointed to herself. “Oh, am I boss?” Tony nodded. Suppressing a smile, she shrugged. “We’re either fucked or blessed.”

“Nice. Where to start?” Tony asked.

Nia tossed a blackberry into the air and caught it in her mouth. “We need a new base with a stronger wall.”

“So starting from plan A?”

“No.” She told him. “Like ground zero. We need an entirely new algorithm for a bigger, better JARVIS. We need to program it with new security systems, new voice recognition, maybe the ability to recognize a threat…”

“So, create a new type of supercomputer, except this one can’t be destroyed by a murderbot.”

“Murderbot, alien army led by a vindictive adopted prince, squirrels; we need protection from everything.”

Tony circled JARVIS and lifted up some key pieces of the original program. “We start with these, build out. Create new tech, get the facility acclimated…”

Nia and Helen stood opposite of him and tried to come up with more ideas. “Do you want him to have a new voice?” Nia asked. “Maybe we’ll make ‘him’ a ‘she’ and record Pepper.”

Insistently, Tony shook his head. “No, JARVIS sounds like JARVIS. No if, ands, or buts about it.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, it’s…” He looked into the center of the broken system and got lost in his thoughts before trailing off. “It’s important.”

Helen and Nia exchanged understanding looks. They mutually decided against pressing the issue before re-focusing on the task at hand. The last thing they needed was for Tony to be completely bummed out.

“Hey, kid, I’ll get started on the base tonight, alright?” He asked.

Nia furrowed her brows. “Are you sure? Helen and I could-”

“No, it’s important that I do this part alone, you can do everything else with me, okay?” He asked.

It seemed like a reasonable enough request. “Sure, Tony, I’ll leave you to it.”

“Nia, great job.” He told her. She noticed that his eyes seemed like they were close to watering. He put his hand on her shoulder, she felt so proud of herself for once in her life. Her own parents never even made her feel this way. “Great damn job, kid.”

“I-I mean thank you, but I didn’t really do anything.”

He grinned. “Yeah, well, I’m giving you points for showing up and throwing ideas around.” He turned to Helen. “You did a great job advising, Dr. Cho.” Helen lifted an eyebrow. Both of the women oddly feeling like they’d just been dismissed. “Quick break? Cool.”

Confused, Helen left the lab. Nia turned to leave, but noticed Tony’s posture sink a bit, so she returned out of concern for him. She leaned on a table by him and slid the blackberries his way. He looked down at them, then up to her before grabbing a handful and staining his fingers.

“Who was he?” She asked. “Who was Jarvis? The real Jarvis.”

Tony sighed. “Arthur Jarvis was hired to be my dad’s butler…”

“Hired to be?”

“He ended up raising me.”

“Rich unattentive dad, huh? Not as bad as middle class overbearing dad using his kid as a ticket to fortune.”

He chuckled. “Wanna share sad childhood stories?”

“No, not in the slightest.” She said. “I’m just figuring out what JARVIS means to you. I’m a lot more willing to contribute to something if it really means something to someone else.”

He looked away and took a deep breath. “Wow, that’s a lot more emotion than we’ve managed to have our entire time together.”

Nia laughed. “I have emotions, I just wasn’t into you for the first few weeks.”

“Yeah, that’s typically the reaction.” He raised an eyebrow. “Can you catch another blackberry in your mouth? That was pretty cool.”

She nodded. “Actually I can do even better.” She threw three blackberries into the air and caught them one by one.

“Holy shit… I bet Steve can’t do that, let’s go show him!”

She smiled and he almost couldn’t help but laugh at her purple tinted mouth. Then, she grabbed the container of blackberries and followed Tony out of the lab and up to the gym where Steve was training with Wanda and Pietro. Thus began the misadventures of Tony and Nia.


	6. An Odd Mix of Scraped Knees and Tattoos

One of the best parts of the job was the two block walk home after getting out of the subway. Once you live in a city, cities become part of your bloodstream. You start to wonder how you’d live without the noise, the chatter, the music.

Nia got out of work right before sunset, so she was able to watch the colors of the sky change as she got closer to her door. It was so peaceful, especially in comparison to the dizzying momentum of her workplace.

She was a block from the apartment when she heard the sound of bike wheels hitting a bump in the pavement... Then someone hitting the pavement... Then someone saying "shit" under their breath. She turned around and saw Ellie on the ground, holding her knee.

She ran over to her to check on her. "Are you okay? Is anything broken?"

"No, no." She hissed. "I just, fuck, I landed weird. That bump trips me up every time." She checked her knee for herself. The skin was scratched and reddened.

"A-are you sure nothing's broken?"  Nia asked nervously. This person she’d only met once was hurt and this wasn’t a comfortable situation.

Ellie grinned and stood herself up. Nia noticed a black star shaped tattoo on her thigh beneath her shorts. "Unless you're a doctor, you can't do much about it."

She giggled. "I, um, didn't go to MIT for that, but I know basic first aid." She picked up Ellie's bike and waited to see if she could walk, let alone ride. "Hey, where'd you get the tattoo? It's sweet."

She smiled. "I was visiting family in Estonia and they hooked me up with this artist. It was super cool." She started walking with a slight limp and took her bike from Nia with an appreciative nod. The two women started walking home together, tearing Nia’s attention away from the sunset for once. “You ever been to Estonia?”

Slightly caught off-guard by the initiation of a conversation, Nia hesitated before answering. “No, just, uh, Tokyo and Wakanda.”

“Wakanda, huh? Interesting.”

"Yeah, it’s a rad place to be. Hot as hell..."

"I’m sure.” There was a brief moment of silence, and Nia was hoping and praying that would be it, but it wasn’t. “So, are you thinking about a tattoo?”

"Yeah. There’s this shop I’ve seen that does the prettiest hibiscus flowers. I want one on my thigh, like just an inch or two higher than yours."

“Does he have tattoos, your boyfriend?" Nia shook her head. "Oh, I’m just asking because my ex was not a fan of my tattoos.”

"I don't think he cares about stuff like that, honestly. He's seen me looking God-awful, I don't think a tattoo would change his opinion of me."

"How long have you been together?"

Nia sighed. "On Saturday, two weeks."

Ellie's eyes widened. "You seem so into him for just two weeks."

Nia smirked. "We both move fast."

"Wow, I guess different couples do work at different paces."

"I've seen people say 'I love you' in less time." They got to their building and Nia held the door for Ellie. "Besides, we see each other every day. That’s a lot of time to get to know someone."

She gasped and a nosy smile formed on her face. "Co-workers? Scandalous."

Nia blushed. "We're kind of a secret couple."

"Quiet little you is in a forbidden love affair? Never would have guessed it a day in my life."

"It's temporarily forbidden since I'm still an intern for a month."

"Oh, I didn't catch where you work."

Nia, the terrible liar, luckily had an excuse given to her by Tony the first day she came in for work. "I'm working in research and development at Stark Industries while Stark is off Avenging."

"Huh, that guy seems like a cock."

Nia shrugged. "I only met him once." He would be proud. "He was alright then. I've heard he's more than he appears to be."

"I doubt that."

Nia's phone buzzed as she reached her apartment and Ellie reached her's across the way. "My boyfriend just texted me."

"What he say?"

She smiled. "It says 'Did you know that even American bottled water has chemicals in it? How have your people not protested?'. Literally the cutest thing on earth."

Ellie laughed and unlocked her door. "Americans love their potentially dangerous chemicals, what can we say?” As she walked into her apartment, she paused for moment, then walked back out. “Hey, you got any cash on you?”

Nia nodded. “Just got paid, why?”

“You could get the tattoo now…”

Nia started to laugh, stopping only when she noticed the serious expression on Ellie’s face. “Are you serious?”

“As the bubonic plague.”

“Ellie, I know it’s Friday and that’s the time to get drunk and make bad decisions, but I can’t just get a tattoo.”

“Why not? How much is the shop you wanna go to?”

“That’s not the issue.”

“Nia, you live in fucking New York, you’re in a secret relationship with a co-worker, and you wear the most artistic outfits I’ve ever seen on your days off; yet you really think getting a spur of the moment that tattoo would be the most daring thing you’ve done? Nia.”

Defiantly, Nia crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m a quiet, responsible rebel. Let me live life the way I want to.”

“Safe rebellion isn’t rebellion at all, missy.” She looked at her phone. “Hand me that.”

“Why?”

“If I text your boyfriend and tell him that you’re getting a tattoo, that means that he’ll be expecting a tattoo to be on your body next time he rips your clothes off. SO, you’ll have to get a tattoo. Give me the phone.”

“Did you come up with that yourself?”

“Evidently, you’re not the only genius in this building.”

Nia unlocked her phone and handed it over. _Peer pressure’s a bitch_. “You ever thought about going into sales? Banking?”

“I’ve thought about it once or twice but those professions are soul-sucking and painful.”

“Oh, like getting a tattoo?”

“Hey, it’s not _soul-sucking_.” After typing the text, she handed the phone back to Nia. “Proofread it first, it might not sound like you.”

“You’re making me proofread my own blackmail text? Classy.” The text said ‘speaking of chemicals, i’m getting a tattoo with my crazy estonian neighbor’. “Sounds about right.” She sent it and sighed. “No time like the present, I guess?”

“You betcha!”

She immediately got a text back saying ‘hope it doesn’t hurt too much :D’.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was partially inspired by all those quirky best friend moments from 80s/90s teen movies, a teensy nod to Nightmare on Elm Street which I've watched three times over the past two days. Not because I'm nuts or anything just because...  
> Fuck  
> I love Johnny Depp  
> There's smut in the next chapter if you guys are into that sort of thing.


	7. Not Safe For Workplace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> at this point i'm trying to see how ridiculous these titles can get  
> smut smut smut smut

Tony wasn't in on Monday, which felt odd, but Nia knew how to fill the void. She pulled Spotify up on her laptop, hooked it up to a speaker, and blasted tunes. It wasn't too loud, but some people heard and came down to listen. First, it was Sam who heard the Jackson Five and had to join in on the party on his way back to training. Then, it was Wanda, curious about the strangeness of Melanie Martinez. During which, this conversation was had:

"Am I being a bitch to you?" Wanda asked.

Nia shook her head and laughed a bit. "You're the coolest. Where's this coming from?"

"I just want you to know that I actually do like you."

Nia's smile dropped when she realized how she could've gotten that impression. Anxiety was a very loud noise to a mind reader. "Oh, Wanda, it's not personal. I'm just kind of... Sick."

"Your thoughts are so invasive and negative, Nia. Do you know not of your worth?"

She looked down and idly pressed random keys on her laptop. "Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don't."

"You do when you are with my brother." Wanda said with a slight grin. "And he knows his own with you."

"Pietro is confident enough."

"That's true but it's just been us for so long, he was never the best with other people, but with you he just... It's strange, but very, um, cool."

She smiled. "I just wish I didn't have to hide him."

"You won't have to soon." Suddenly, Wanda noticed something. "I've never seen you wear a dress to work."

"Oh, I got a tattoo on Friday and all my jeans are tight." She told her, lifting her dress slightly so she could see part of the tattoo. “See?”

"Hmm, well, it is a cute dress."

"Thanks, I live in thrift shops."

"You could take me one day, you could bring my brother and I could bring... Vision."

Nia’s jaw dropped and she cocked her head to the side. "No fucking way."

"Yes, it seems the entire team has been shot by Cupid."

"Who is Sam with?"

Wanda smirked and leaned in as if others could hear. "Cannot confirm or deny this but... Have you seen the way he looks at Steve?"

Nia covered her mouth. "I know too much already." For once, she saw what looked like a full smile on Wanda’s face.

The next person to pop into the lab was Pietro.

Nia's hips rocked back and forth to the sound of an Alabama Shakes tune, making the short skirt of her dress reveal a bit more than she probably wanted to. He walked up behind her slowly, moving his arms around her waist. She bit her lip and rocked with him while he pressed small kisses behind her ear.

"Stark isn't here, correct?" He said.

"You're absolutely correct."

He kissed along her neck and to her shoulders. "Good, I want to see this tattoo."

She turned around and lifted up the right side of her dress so that he could see the beautiful orange and pink hibiscus flowers tattooed on the outer part of her upper thigh. He was careful not to touch it as he looked over all the details. "It's beautiful." He told her.

"I know!" she said excitedly. "Wait until it heals all the way, it'll be gorgeous."

"Did it hurt?"

"Like hell. But it was worth it."

"I'm sort of glad it hurt you."

She smiled. "Still angry I spoiled Mad Max for you?"

"No, I'm angry you went without me in the first place!"

"Babe, you were out on a mission, let me live." She kissed him on the cheek. "Besides, we still have yet to watch Princess Bride together. Forgive my shock when you said you hadn't seen it."

"Yes! Then we can watch Godzilla."

"Wanda can come for that one." Nia suggested. Pietro raised an eyebrow. "What? Wanda and I happen to get along pretty well."

"She told me she thinks you don't like her."

"All the more reason to include her!"

He kissed her. "I must thank you for including my sister, though. You're so sweet."

"You're a package deal, how could I not?" He pulled her into another kiss, this one more heated than the others. "Something tells me you want to see a bit more than the tattoo."

He grinned against her lips. "I need to learn to be subtle."

She turned the music up so no one could hear the lovers in the lab, and he slipped his hands up her dress. He bit and tugged on her bottom lip, pushing her against the lab wall. He had her pinned, grinding his growing erection against her. She gasped and moaned into his ear.

"You want me, yes?"

"Yes!"

"Can you feel how much I want you?"

"Mmm, fuck yes!"

The moment was suddenly broken by the sound of the elevator descending into the lab. They looked at each other with panic and almost a sense of hilarity. Pietro let her go and sat facing away from the elevator. Nia pulled down her dress and pretended to be talking to him about something more safe for the workplace.

"Hey so you're Jewish, that's cool." She said. He looked at her as if to say 'that's the best you can do?'. "Can you come up with something better in less than five seconds?"

Natasha stepped out of the elevator and Nia waved at her. "Agent Romanoff, Hi!"

"Hi, Nia. I came to retrieve Maximoff for a mission."

Pietro was so disappointed. "You're kidding."

"I'm afraid not, buddy. Let's go."

Hoping and praying Natasha wouldn't notice his boner, Pietro stood up and followed her to the elevator. Nia covered her mouth to keep from giggling. "Meet me at my house for dinner later?" She asked with a smirk.

He nodded awkwardly and waved. "See you then."

* * *

About an hour after Nia got home, someone buzzed for her. She ran down to the front door and Pietro was there, kind of dirty from the mission. His eyes drifted down her body and she felt heat rise beneath her cheeks. She was too eager, she’d been thinking about this since their little meeting earlier that day and her wet panties were a clear indicator.

“Before dinner, may I use your shower?” He asked her.

_Oh my God…_ “Sure, I was just about to shower myself.”

He smiled. “Perfect.”

They quickly made their way up and got into the apartment. He wasted no time. He held her waist and pinned her against the door with his weight, entangling her in a needy kiss. Her hands rushed to his hair, pushing her hips forward to meet him.

Between heavy breaths, she managed to moan, “You have... no patience.”

The next sound he made almost sounded like a laugh. He tenderly held her face in one hand while his other hand roamed up her dress. Their eyes were locked, the lust in his was almost clouding _her_ judgement. “I’ve been thinking about this all day.”

Her heart almost stopped beating when he said that. She thought fast, gently pushing him away and fumbling with the zipper on the back of her dress before pulling it down and then letting the garment slowly fall to the ground.

He stood there and watched her make her way to the bathroom, releasing her breasts from her bra along the way. She turned on the bathroom light and slipped off her panties, then looked back at him. Something about the image of her naked body in the white bathroom light was making the burning lust in the pit of his stomach burn even more. He had to have her tonight.

He made his way in her direction, quickly pulling off his shirt and his pants. She put her hair into a messy bun and turned the shower on. By the time he reached the bathroom, steam had already begun to emit from the hot water. He pulled off his underwear and stepped into the shower with her, sliding the glass door shut behind them. He stood beneath the shower head and blew some wet hair from his face, making them both laugh.

“Do you want me to get you clean?” She asked. He nodded. She poured some of her pinewood scented body wash into her hand and rubbed on his abs, chest, and shoulders.

"This is why you have been smelling like a forest lately?"

She nodded. "It brings back good memories."

He turned and let her scrub his back. His strong back muscles shimmered as the water dripped down his body. There were a few scratches from the mission, but nothing major. He moved too quick for anything to _really_ hurt him. He let the water run through his scalp and she stopped to admire his arms. How he got to be this beautiful, she’d never know.

He turned back around and noticed a bubble floating above her head. She blew it upwards and he just popped it with his finger. The look of shock on her face was priceless. “Fucking jerk!” She said, with her eyes crinkling at the corners from smiling. “That bubble was beautiful!”

He smiled. “So are you.” He poured some of her shower gel into his own hands. “Let me take care of you now, turn around.”

Trying her best not to fall, she turned slowly. Pietro spread the lather over her shoulders gently, and she could feel it slowly dripping down her back. She closed her eyes as he applied a bit of pressure to massage her tense muscles. She helped him, rubbing gel around her breasts and stomach while he handled her arms and lower back. The gesture may not have been traditionally "sexy" but it was very sweet, and that turned Nia on more than anything.

Once they were all soapy, he pulled her close beneath the rushing water to rinse off. He held her face and brushed his lips against her's. Her lips parted, taking in his breath, then leaning up to meet his. He'd never kissed softer, gentler lips. The taste of him was now comfortable and familiar, something she looked forward to. They held each other close, allowing water to rush between them. Nia could feel his erection poking at her stomach and, if she weren't afraid of falling, she'd have him right there in the shower.

After a while he pulled away, "Ready?" He asked. She nodded.

He kissed her on the cheek and turned off the shower, then he picked her up and carried her to her bedroom. He laid her on the bed, she smiled up at him and he smiled back.

“You’re so good to me, you know?” She kissed him on his nose. “Tell me how to please you.”

He kissed her on her nose. “Pleasing you pleases me. I like to see you happy.”

“You mean that?”

“Completely.” He kissed between her breasts and she playfully shook his wet hair. “Right now, I want to please you the way you deserve, анђео.” He kissed her down to the bones of her hips, adoringly covering his girlfriend in affection. "јебено сладак."

He kissed her gently around her tattoo and towards her inner thigh before doing the same to her other leg.

"Your skin is so perfect, so beautiful." He whispered. "It looks and tastes like caramel." She smiled and let out a breathy moan. No one ever told her that her skin was beautiful. No one ever made her believe it before.

He lifted himself and laid next to her. At first, she was confused so he lifted her on top of him. "Sit on my face." He said in almost a purr, his accent thickened by desire.

She obliged, he help her settle down on his mouth, opened and ready to meet her. He held her thighs and then he licked around her wetness slowly, slower than he had before. The sudden change from their usual pace was so brilliantly hot.

Her hands went to her breasts, needing something to hold onto while he ate her out. She moaned softly, looked down at him, and was met by his intoxicating eyes. Her body was still dripping wet, shining in the light from the street that happened to break through her curtains.

Her eyes closed as he sped up. His entire mouth working to taste every last drop of her. She began to roll her hips on him, her body trying to match his tongue. Somehow, it occurred to her to reach for his member and, just as he noticed what she was doing, she held it in her hand and ran her thumb across his tip. He groaned beneath her.

Pleased with his reaction, her tongue grazed her bottom lip. She stroked his shaft with her hand, applying just the right amount of pressure to get him really going. In the surprise of it all, his eyes widened, then they focused. He pressed his tongue inside her entrance and made it vibrate, distracting her from her handiwork for a moment. He licked her with his vibrating tongue, always just missing the clit to tease her. She couldn't take much more. Her climax was already starting to build.

"Don't stop, yes, yes, YES!"

He finally stopped avoiding her clit and started flicking it. She kept rolling on his face. Trying to turn this tension into euphoria.

Pietro was relentless, unstoppable. His grip on her ass had tightened so that he could go as deep as he could. Finally she hit her peak, warmth spreading over her body with disorienting pleasure. He enjoyed the fruits of his labor before rolling on top of her, lips shining and slick with her juices.

"What was that?" He asked with a cheeky smile. "You are not such an angel after all." Coming down from her high she pulled him into a kiss. "Did you like how it felt?" He whispered into her lips.

She ran her thumb across his lips. "Did you?"

He nodded. "But your hand is nothing compared to how it feels inside of you." He told her. "Do you have condoms?

Nia nodded and grabbed one off her bedside table. “I think these are the kind you use.”

“Yes, thank you.”

He rubbed circles around her entrance and rolled the condom on. She smiled in anticipation. He pulled her to the edge of the bed, a task not easily done with their skin still wet from the shower.

Before anything else, he leaned down and kissed her, his hands holding her legs around him. He was a giving lover, one who thought of his partner first and his own needs second. The thing fueling him was the glorious image of Nia, well-fucked, glowing, and blissful.

He stood upright and Nia admired the view of him from between her legs. He held them straight up and she could feel his tip at her entrance. Her body cried out for him to fill her, his member was twitching at the sensation of her wetness.

Her nails dug into the edge of the bed as he slowly pushed into her. The event met by whispered 'fuck's from both parties. He stroked into her, going deeper each time. It was a wonder he was doing all of this standing up, being inside her was enough to bring him to his knees.

“Fuck, Nia...” He held her feet together and went even deeper, gradually speeding up. He was so torturously close to her g-spot, that she could think of little else. The moans were mindless, wanton and needy. His mouth hung open. He let go of her legs and let them fall on either side of him. Then, still inside of her, he lifted her up and knelt on the bed. She was on top now, in control.

She rolled her hips on him, making unflinching eye contact. His hands roamed her back, one holding her by the back of her neck, allowing him to thrust up into her. Now, he was hitting the spot. She almost screamed. The pleasure was numbing and powerful. She became more aggressive on top of him, so much so that they fell backwards onto the floor, not that they noticed.

Nia rode him so unbelievably well, it felt like a dream. He spanked her and started to use his powers to go even faster. They were so close, so beautifully close. Moans and grunts turning into slurred Serbian and screams of pleasure.

Nia’s eyes squeezed shut as another orgasm built in her core. “YES! FUCK ME!”

Suddenly he was on top again, her legs being held by her head, him pounding into her faster and faster, trying to pull her over the edge again. Their wet skin continued to collide together. The world was frozen around them. He kept his pace up, feeling himself coming undone at the seams.

"Беаутифул Ангел!" He cried out, going as fast as he could, almost completely unraveled. "Како су Живео сам без тебе?"

Nia was a vision beneath him. Entirely overtaken by pleasure, her climax rushed through her and she cried out his name. Her walls closed in around him again, this time causing his undoing. He slowed down as he came, his tired body slumping forward and succumbing in a few short thrusts.

He touched his forehead to her’s and smiled while he tried to catch his breath. He pulled out and collapsed beside her on the floor. It was the first time he’d realized they were on the floor.

“You are not real, Pietro Maximoff.” She whispered.

He pulled her into his arms. She was glowing as he'd hoped. Her hair was in blue s-shaped curls on her face. “I can’t take all the credit.” She grinned and he caressed her face. “You’re so beautiful.”

“So you've told me.”

“It’s true. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

She blushed. “You work with Natasha everyday and you still say I’m the most beautiful woman you’ve ever seen.”

“Because you are, like you were pulled from my imagination.”

“This might be the orgasms or the empty stomach talking but God, Pietro, I’m so glad I met you.”

He kissed her and smiled. “I’m glad I met you, too.”

“Can you sleep here tonight?” She asked. “It’s alright if you say no, I just wanted-”

“Sure, I’ll just tell everyone we were watching something and lost track of time if they ask.”

“Smart.” She kissed him and stood up. “Do you actually want dinner or was this just a romantic booty call?”

“Not sure what a booty call is, but I am hungry.”

She giggled. "A booty call is an expression meaning to call someone with the intent of casual sex."

"There was nothing casual about that."

She grabbed an old Kirby t-shirt and some shorts she’d cut from a pair of grey sweatpants out of her drawer while he threw away the condom. They occasionally glanced over to each to each other as they moved through the apartment, making funny faces and collapsing into giggles.

They ordered a pizza, cuddled up together, and watched The Princess Bride before falling asleep in each other's arms on the couch. Pietro held her as if he never wanted to let go. Her back was facing him and his head rested behind her. The two of them were so exhausted they couldn't even hear Mr. Green knock on the door a few minutes later.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> анђео- angel  
> јебено сладак- fucking cute  
> Беаутифул Ангел- beautiful angel  
> Како су Живео сам без тебе?- how have i lived without you?  
> *cringes at godzilla reference*


	8. An Early Start and A Little White Spark

The high-pitched whistling of a hot kettle woke Pietro up suddenly. He heard Nia quickly run to attend to it, whispering anxiously about not wanting to wake him up, then the whistling became quiet. Something about that put a smile on his face, there were definitely worse things to wake up to.

He sat up and stretched and looked over to the kitchen where Nia was rushing to get breakfast together. She’d already gotten showered and dressed for work, still sticking to wearing dresses to avoid fabric rubbing on her healing tattoo.

“What is the time?” He asked, wiping sleep from his eyes.

She jumped and almost spilled the hot water she was pouring for tea. “Did you mean to scare me just now?”

He stood up and walked over to the kitchen. “No, it just happened. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, it’s like 6 AM.” She slid the tea and sugar over to him, and he eyed her case of lollipops. “I’m making crepes, the sweet kind with apples and cinnamon. I always plan to make that when I have guests over, and I rarely have guests over.” She turned and splashed water in the pan, making it crackle. Then turned back around to stir the batter. When she turned around, Pietro had a blue lollipop in his mouth. “Cute.”

He winked at her and she turned to pour the batter on the pan. “You cook?”

She shrugged. “I mostly cook French food, my grandma on my mother’s side was French.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, my grandfather spent a lot of time overseas and had a thing for accents.” She shot him a look over her shoulder. “I guess it’s hereditary.”

He propped his elbows up on the counter and rested his head in his hands while he watched her cook. Her hair was curly from the night before, she hadn’t straightened it like she usually did in the morning, the loose ringlets were bouncing around her face as she moved. The smell coming from the pan was so warm and inviting.

There was something remarkably breathtaking about the scene; it was the most normal thing he’d seen in a while. He spent most of his days at the facility, where everything was strange and everyone had a power and an ability. Aside from her beauty and her genius mind, Nia was an everyday civilian. The Avengers were so often disconnected from the people they protected, and the normal lives they used to lead. Here, Pietro felt like he was normal. He felt as if he were at ‘home’.

Nia’s phone starting ringing and she handed him his finished crepe before answering it, balancing the phone between her ear and her shoulder. “Hey, Tony…” Pietro raised an eyebrow and leaned in closer to hear. “What’s up?”

“Hey, Nia, have you seen the speedster? He usually comes in with Wanda.”

“I’m looking right at him.” She replied. “He came over to my place last night to chill and he fell asleep on my couch. Natasha can vouch for me.”

“We’re just calling to make sure he hasn’t died.”

“He’s fine, he’s my buddy, I wouldn’t let anyone hurt him. He’s alive, he’s clean, and he’s eating. Do you need anything else, Tony? Do you want me to text you or Steve whenever Pietro and I hang out? Because I can. I’ll send you audio files of him snoring, tell you everything he’s eating...” At that point, Pietro started to laugh.

“ _Ha. Ha_. Listen, I’m not the one who asked. Whatever you two weirdos do when you get together to play video games and talk about robots is none of my business, unless of course…”

Nia grimaced. “Eww, Tony, weird.” Pietro laughed even harder.

“If you two were to get together after the internship that would be kinda interesting…”

“Whatever, I’ll see you soon, boss.” She hung up the phone and started to laugh with him. “‘Play video games and talk about robots’? Is that what twenty-somethings do together as friends?”

“At least he still thinks we are only friends!”

She leaned over the counter to kiss him. “Good friends...”

He smiled and met her, holding her chin up and gently kissing her. “Very good friends.”

She finished cooking and sat across from him at the kitchen table with her crepes and tea. "I swear there was a knock on the door last night."

Pietro shrugged. "It was probably nothing."

She giggled. "These walls aren't soundproof, you know. People could hear us last night."

He was unfussed. He licked the cinnamon off of an apple slice nonchalantly and looked up at her with a smirk as she waited for his response. "I thought you sounded very pretty. I wouldn't complain."

"You thought I sounded pretty?"

"Especially when you came."

She put her face in her hands and tried to wrap her mind around this. "I sounded prettiest when I came? Wow. That's a new one. I feel confident and sexy."

He smiled. "Are you fucking with me?"

She balled up a napkin and threw it at him. "Yes, Pietro! Who says that?!"

"I do. I'm being honest, I really love the sounds you make."

She shook her head and sipped her tea. "Well, it's very sweet of you to compliment my moans, I guess."

"I do like when you talk about science very much. That's sexy."

"Seriously?"

He nodded. "Nothing is more sexy than a woman with a passion."

She bit her lip and made her voice higher pitched and seductive. "The word 'robot' comes from the Czech word 'robota' and it first appeared in this 1920s play about machines that kill their creators."

"Sexy..."

"Da Vinci had plans for a robot that NASA used to colonize Mars."

He started to fan himself. "Please, no more, we will never make it to work on time."

They finished eating and headed out to work. Ellie was taking out her trash and caught them coming out of Nia’s apartment. Nia smiled and waved but it obviously wasn’t enough.

“So, this is the source of the noise last night?” Ellie asked.

Nia blushed. “Sorry, Ellie.”

She waved at Pietro. “Glad to know you liked the tattoo!” Nia pulled him down the stairs and stuck her tongue out at her neighbor. “At least warn me next time!”

* * *

When they made it to work, they were practically holding hands and laughing about something they’d seen on the train. They swiped their IDs to get into the building and made their way to the training area. As soon as they stepped in the elevator, Nia got a text from Tony.

Stark: “You would not BELIEVE what just happened. I’ll see you when you get here.”

Nia responded: “I just got here with Pietro, I’ll be down in no time!! Try not to blow yourself up, grandpa.”

Pietro kissed her forehead and stretched his arms. “Do you think the people watching the security cameras care about any of this?”

“I think they’re too scared of you and Wanda to say anything, honestly.”

“Why would they be scared?”

“Let’s just say your reputations don’t completely suit you.” She grinned. “Well, I mean that one about you being a flirty hot-head is pretty much true…”

“On what planet?!”

She pointed to his offended expression. “See?”

When they got to Pietro’s floor, she gave him a quick kiss and he hugged her and thanked her for breakfast before running to training. She fondly sighed and pressed the elevator button for the lab. _He’s so dreamy and so sweet… I know I’m gonna fuck this up somehow… But how?_

She got down to lab and saw that Tony had the base almost finished for what Nia was calling Nu-JARVIS. She stood by him and watched the giddy expression on his face.

“What’s up, boss?” She asked him. He pointed to the base. “Yeah, I know that, but what happened?”

“Shh, just watch and wait.”

They stared at the glowing yellow fragments for minutes. After about three minutes, every second was becoming excruciatingly boring. “What are we-”

“Nia, please, trust me.”

Suddenly a bright white synapse skipped across the base. It was small and quick, but it was definitely there. Nia jumped back and stared at Tony with her jaw to the floor. He smiled at her and she just stared on in disbelief.

“Tony…” He put his arm around her shoulder. “It’s fucking alive…”

“Is it getting real for you yet?” He asked.

She shook her head. “What does it mean?”

“It means you and I have a lot of work to do.”

In the excitement of the moment she wrapped her arms around him. The hug was so shocking to him that it took him a second to process it. She noticed that he was was uncomfortable and immediately let go and apologized.

“That was inappropriate, sorry for hugging you as if you were my dad… not that my dad ever really- Talking too much, right, got it.”

He grinned. This kid was really starting to grow on him. “No, no, you don’t talk enough. Don’t be sorry, you already call me grandpa.”

She giggled. “I’m sorry for that, too. You’re not _that_ old.”

“Do you call Rhodey grandpa, at least?”

“I call him Rhodey.”

“So do I remind you of your grandpa?”

She scoffed and sat at her desk. “No! You’re _way_ whiter than he was!” He nodded in agreement. “If it’s really bothering you, I’ll just call you ‘Pops’.”

“I like that better. How about daddy-o?”

“Hell no.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> JARVIS is starting to work... So the madness begins... ;)  
> Okay so the chances of an update coming out next week, realistically, is slim. I'm moving into college on Tuesday (YAY!) so I won't have time all week which makes me the saddest person on Earth like 100%.


	9. How Popular is Nia Miller?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm officially a college student! I had some free time so I thought I'd update. Thanks for the support! Y'all are the coolest.

Tony and Nia basically lived in the lab the next few days, only leaving to eat and pee. Nia brought two duvets over to the facility since the lab got cold during the nights, and usually they worked until they could no longer hold their eyes open.

After day three, Tony started suggesting other things for Nia to do to shake things up. One suggestion was observing the training sessions to see if anyone's suits could be improved. She liked that. It was an easy way to get out of the lab for a bit and also to watch her boyfriend fuck shit up.

She walked to the training area and sat at the observation deck. She'd brought a cute little Stark Industries notebook to jot down observations and a camera just in case. The white romper she wore immediately caught Pietro's eye and he quickly smiled at her before focusing back on the task at hand. She noticed that, as he ran, Pietro's shoes were wearing out at the rate he was running. The sneakers were durable but on Pietro they had half a life span, she wrote that down.

"Hey, Nia!" Sam shouted from the sidelines. He looked up with Steve and they waved. "How are you, sis?" Sam was simply a joy. He was a joy to be around, a joy to work with, a joy to watch. Everyone knew this. Everyone loved Sam. Nia was probably Falcon's biggest fan outside of Steve Rogers himself.

"I'm good!" She yelled back.

"Tony kicked you out?" Steve asked.

She shook her head. "He gave me a break. I had no choice."

Pietro skidded to a halt with a screech of his heels. Nia raised an eyebrow and looked closer. "Aye, Speedo, I got a question!"

Pietro looked up and smiled. "How can I refuse someone who calls me Speedo?"

"Hush! Did you just skid on the floor?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Bring your shoes here for a second, please?" The urge to call him 'baby' was strong. He ran up to her and sat next to her before taking his shoes off and handing them over. "Thanks, dude." The exchange made Wanda laugh. They were really putting on a show.

"What's so funny?" Sam asked.

She shook her head. "You will know soon."

The traction on the soles of Pietro's sneakers was pretty much gone. There was a bit left on the soles but they were done. They couldn't be used anymore, not outside of training.

"You been running faster lately?" Nia asked. "Running harder?"

He shrugged. "I fail to notice."

"Well, it's a good thing I'm here then, huh?" She said jokingly. "Since you're fucking accelerating beyond belief, your sneakers are burning out on your feet. I'll have to design new ones. I'll see if Tony will assist-"

"Stark?!"

"Hold on, let me finish, he probably won't since you two have such animosity between you.” She put her hand on his shoulder. “Don't worry, Pietro, you should have faith in me by now."

"Of course, I trust you with my life, Nia." He said, looking into her eyes with a sincerity that made her cheeks feel warm. If he would only stop making her feel like a lovesick disaster, she’d be fine.

"I, uh, cool, good. A lot of pressure, but good."

"You can design shoes?" Steve asked her.

She nodded, handing Pietro his shoes. "Wearable technology is something else I geek over, sorry to say."

"Why are you sorry? Pietro asked her. "You're a smart woman and you should be proud."

She smiled. "Yeah, well, you've slept in my apartment so you're too far gone to judge me."

Pietro noticed bags underneath Nia's eyes. She'd been working so hard on Nu-JARVIS that she'd gotten little sleep. Tony looked about the same. "You need rest." He told her, running two fingers under her eyes. "Are you okay?"

She slowly nudged his hand away. "I'm very tired. But that's the work, I guess."

"Is Stark overworking you?"

She grinned at the look on his face. If anyone ever tried to hurt Nia, she'd know what they had coming to them later. Pietro was always ready to fight. Not always willing, but always ready.

"I'm overworking my _self_ , but what were you gonna do if he was, Pietro? Honestly."

"Hey, Nia, you busy tonight?" Rhodey asked her.

"I mean, sort of, with Tony..."

"I can get you out of that easily." He said. "Sam and I wanted to invite you for drinks."

"It'll be really nice. We know this cool place near your apartment." Sam said, barely missing being hit by something Steve threw at him. "Really, man?"

Steve laughed. "I'm sorry, Sam. Pay attention!"

"Drinks? Um, sure, if Tony’ll let me go! Sounds fun."

Pietro nudged her with his elbow. “You’re becoming popular, yes? See, I knew everyone would like you.”

She giggled. "No, you knew you liked me and you figured everyone else would just naturally feel the same. I appreciate that." She gave him a quick hug. “Please go get some work done.”

He whispered in her ear. “We will talk later?”

She nodded. “Meet me for lunch in twenty minutes. Tony is going out today.”

“See you then, Срце моје.”

“What does that mean?”

“My sweet heart.”

She blushed. “Dude, you gotta teach me this language.”

He laughed. “I’ll try.”

"Hey, get your ass down here!" Rhodey yelled. "Don't use Nia to get out of work!"

He sped up, leaving a quick kiss on her cheek as he ran down. It was too fast for anyone to notice, but she felt it all the same. She brushed her cheek with her hand, wrote down a few last minute observations, and headed back down to the lab where the yellow orb in the center was growing more and more...

* * *

Nia had never been to a bar, not in New York. Honestly, it was for the best. Bars were full of people, and people weren’t her ‘thing’ most of the time. The Avengers were lucky to be so lovable or else she’d ignore them harder than they’d probably believe.

She walked in with Sam and Rhodey as closely behind them as possible. They were both about four inches taller than her, and older than her, so it looked like two dads taking their daughter out for her first drink. It actually was exactly that.

They sat at the bar and Nia checked her phone for messages. There was one from Ellie joking about Mr. Green complaining about the sound of her drilling or something earlier that day, calling him “The Green Machine”. There was one from Tony telling her to have a good time and make sure she could work the next day. Then there was one from Pietro, her sweet boyfriend, asking what her favorite kind of candy was. He must have gone shopping with Wanda. She told him it was gummy bears and then he sent her a picture of Wanda holding a giant jar of gummy bears.

Nia shook her head and sent him a text that said "waaay too much". He texted her back saying "ur not eating this by urself ;)".

Sam noticed her smiling and asked who it was. “Pietro.” She told him. “He just bought me gummy bears. He’s like my best friend right now.”

Rhodey chuckled. “Don’t tell Tony. I’ve been down that road.”

Nia ordered a beer and put her phone away. Part of her wanted to fall asleep right on the bar. She started slumping forward when Sam gently nudged her awake.

“You didn’t have to come if you were tired, y’know?” He told her. The bartender handed her the beer. “We would’ve understood.”

“No, I needed to escape for a bit, trust me. The lab is cold and I can only drink so much coffee.”

Sam turned to her. “Well, the real reason we invited you out-”

She gasped. “Oh God, I’m being fired, aren’t I?”

“No! Never!” Rhodey insisted. “You’d have to force us to get rid of you at this point. Tony likes you far too much.”

Nia raised an eyebrow. _Tony?_   They were friends, but he really valued her that highly? It was hard to believe. It might have simply been insecurity, but she was working with one of the great modern inventors and he thought _she_ was invaluable? “Really?”

Rhodey nodded. He looked at her like this was common knowledge. “Yeah, you should hear how he talks about you. He might be considering filing for adoption as we speak.”

Sam cleared his throat. “As I was saying… We invited you out 'cause want you to feel comfortable with us, Nia. It’s hard being a Black superhero, man, we’re all in this together. The All-Black Avengers is real.”

“I’m not a superhero…” She insisted

“Uh, yeah, kid, you are. Anyone who works with us all day just gets the damn title by default.”

Nia smiled. “Thanks, I really appreciate it, seriously.” She sighed and took a long drink of her beer. “I’ve spent most of my time with Tony and the Maximoffs anyway. I could use a few more friends. Black friends.”

“What about in your building?”

She shook her head. “I live across from an Estonian and beneath an oompa-loompa.”

Rhodey leaned in. “Hey, what is with you and the Maximoffs, huh?”

Sam nodded and raised a nosy eyebrow. “Yeah, especially Pietro.”

“I told you guys, Pietro’s my best friend.” She said. “He’s been hanging out with me around the city. Wanda’s a really great girl, too, once she opens up.”

Rhodey grinned. “You have that in common.”

“Pietro must be crazy about you, then. He tries to play it off but he talks about you all the fuckin' time during breaks in training.” Sam said. He tried mimicking his accent. “Nia has the coolest apartment.”

Rhodey laughed and joined in. “Her couch is so comfortable, you sink right in. She is very sweet to let me sleep in her home.”

“She doesn’t even use that much dye in her hair! She doesn’t want it too blue.”

She started to blush and played it off. _He remembered me rambling about my hair?_ “We’re friends, guys. Nothing more, I swear.”

“He really likes you, girl. I think you should give him a chance.” Sam suggested. “I mean y’all are together all the time anyway and Wanda likes you. It could work!”

 _I guess we’re better liars than I thought_. Her phone buzzed with another text from Ellie. This one was frantic, urgently written; "nia please come home i’m in the laundry room and there". Nia furrowed her brows. Sam and Rhodey were still laughing behind her. “What the fuck?” Ellie sent another text, seconds later. "big guy in the laundry room has me cornered i think he broke in i’m really scared hiding behind a machine". Nia turned to them and quickly put down her part of the bill. “I have to get home.”

“Already?” Rhodey asked. “You sure?”

“My neighbor is in trouble.”

Sam helped her get her stuff together. “Can we help?”

She started darting for the door, hands shaking as she typed a nervous reply saying she was on her way. A drunk man grabbed her ass and she didn’t know how to respond so she just kept moving. Luckily, Rhodey saw it and accosted him as they followed her out.

"You sure?!"

"I'll just call the police!" She told them. “She doesn’t know I work for the Avengers, you can’t come! I’m sorry! We’ll have to do this another time!”


	10. Minor Bruises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> College is hard, I'm sorry. Thanks for your patience <3

The police were on their way, but in that neighborhood they never came on time. Nia was in a panic, if she weren’t focused on getting to Ellie, her legs would’ve given way. She even got a cab, and the one thing she hated more than anything else about cities were cabs.

She was only blocks away from her apartment, but the closer she got, the more panicked she became. She was around superheroes all day and now was the time to apply what she learned. What did she learn?

_If I die tonight, who’ll tell Pietro? Who’ll tell Tony? Shit, well, I guess I better not die then…_

She raced into her apartment building, taking a short pause to catch her breath and gauge the situation. _Note to self, I am not my boyfriend, I am not my boss, I am not any of my co-workers but I need to be right now… Where the fuck is Ellie?_

She ran into the laundry room and found that it was empty and clean except for a pile of Ellie’s colorful clothes and a few drops of blood leading to a door she hadn’t noticed before.

_Christ, I really need to learn my exits around here._

She ran through the door, listening closely for any noises, any screams, anything. She wanted some indicator that Ellie was still alive, because obviously the blood wasn’t a very good sign. The door led to a stairwell which went down to a series of tunnel-like corridors the maintenance men used. The lights were dim so she used the flashlight on her phone to light her way.

The corridor was claustrophobic and nearly quiet if not for the distant sounds of tired screams. Ellie was in there. Nia ran as fast as she could in her direction, making noise not only to alert her but to potentially distract her attacker. Her heart was racing, on the verge of bursting from her chest.

“NIA?!”

Nia paused at a corner, trying to decipher if she went the right way. Sound was bouncing off the pipes and the hard walls. It was confusing at best. “I’M COMING, IS HE THERE?!”

“NO, BUT HE FUCKED UP MY LEG!”

Nia went left and hoped that was the correct decision. “WHERE’D HE GO?”

“I DON’T KNOW, HE TOOK MY FUCKING MONEY AND RAN OFF!”

“I’M REALLY CLOSE, I THINK.”

“I KNOW, I CAN TELL.”

“HOW BAD DOES IT HURT?!”

“IN ENGLISH OR ESTONIAN?”

Nia turned another corner and found Ellie, covered in blood, her leg in an odd position, but other than that she seemed to simply be scratched. She wasn’t even shaken up by the whole thing. “In Estonian?”

Ellie smiled and Nia helped lift her off the ground. “I have a few choice words.”

“When my boyfriend gets hurt he yells ‘sranje!’ at the top of his lungs.” Nia said, trying to distract Ellie from the pain. “It’s honestly really hot.”

Ellie laughed weakly. “I would say ‘lita poeg’, which my mom taught me in the first grade.”

“Ooh, what does it mean?”

“Son of a bitch.”

“Moms are good for stuff like that. My mom never wanted me to learn curse words but it was hard not to with her and my grandma cursing up a storm during Phillies games.”

“You liked the Phillies?”

“Hell no, it was a family thing. I wouldn’t touch that cursed team with a ten foot pole.” She checked Ellie’s face for bruising, like she’d learned in the first-aid course she had to take for babysitter certification. “You like ice cream?”

“Everyone likes ice cream.”

“Good, because that’s all I have in my freezer right now.” She started to carry her out of the laundry room. “Haven’t had time to shop, sorry.”

“I haven’t seen you for the past couple days, where you been?”

“Work.” She replied. “Super big, important project.”

Ellie giggled. “Lemme guess, it’s top secret, right?”

“I’d have to kill both you and myself if I squealed.”

“Hey, thanks for helping me. You’re a wonderful neighbor and a kick-ass friend.”

“We’re friends?” Nia asked. "I mean I consider you my friend but it's very rarely been the case where people consider me to be the same so... I guess I'm still fucked up about that..."

Ellie smiled and playfully punched her arm. “I convinced you to get a tattoo and you came to my rescue on foot so, yeah, we’re fucking friends. We’re stuck together.”

The police came a few minutes later. Nia and Ellie were sitting on the front steps with ice cream, waiting patiently. An officer ran over to them and started checking Ellie, the obvious victim from her scratches and injured leg.

“Did you witness the crime?”

Nia shook her head. “Well, actually, indirectly. She was texting me during the ordeal and I came to her aid. I’m the one who called you.”

“May I see the texts?”

A few EMTs came and walked Ellie out to the ambulance, then checked Nia for injuries. “Be careful, she might be sexting her boyfriend.”

“Oh shut up and go to the hospital.” They smiled at each other as Ellie was carried into the ambulance and it drove away. “There’s no sexts on here… Sexting is weird.”

The officer grinned. She handed him her phone and he went through the texts. “I’ll take your word for it.”

* * *

An hour passed and Nia was relaxing on her couch watching The X-Files, which she hadn’t done in days due to Nu-Jarvis. Then she heard a frantic knock on her door. She debated answering it, because she’d stripped down to her pajamas and was fully intent on becoming one with the furniture, but then she ended up getting up anyway because whoever it was seemed to really have a solid reason for being there.

She looked through her peephole and grinned before letting Pietro and Wanda in. Pietro kissed her and wrapped his arms around her and said something in Serbian that she couldn’t quite make out. “Are you okay? Sam told us about your neighbor.”

“Damn it, Sam…” She whispered. “I’m fine, my neighbor is in the hospital, the police have checked the situation out, everything is good. You didn’t have to come all the way over here."

Wanda sat on her couch. “We had other motives… This is The X-Files?”

“Yeah. I’m on season two.”

“We are on the same episode!” Wanda told her. She lifted up a large convenient store bag. “We brought snacks.”

“Wait… You want to hang out tonight?”

“Unless there is a problem, why not?” Pietro asked with a smile that seemed be more effective than any other form of persuasion. “It will be fun, yes? Bonding? Family time? It was either gonna be us or Stark and we all know you like me better.” Nia kissed him on the cheek. "This is what I mean."

"Besides, this incident ruined your night with Sam and Rhodey, we didn't want you to feel bad or unsafe." Wanda explained. “This is cheesy but you are part of the Avengers family.”

“Second time I’ve heard that tonight, must really be true…” She smiled. “Okay, you two can chill if you’re cool enough.”

“Well I'm certainly cooler than you!” Pietro said jokingly.

Nia rolled her eyes and pulled him to the couch with her. He put his arm around her shoulders and she put her feet up next to Wanda's and leaned on his chest.

"What kind of snacks did you bring?" She asked.

"Popcorn, it was the natural choice." Wanda replied.

"Of course, pass it over here." Wanda got a huge bowl and used her power to open the bag of popcorn, then handed it over. Nia stared at her with shock and wonder. "What the fuck? You are so much better than Pietro!"

Wanda laughed. "That's true."

Pietro huffed. "This is a conspiracy..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're wondering what this chapter has to do with the plot, you'll see.... ;)


	11. Progress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so tired, Sebastian Stan won't cut his hair, and I'm feeling like a very ambitious woc (writer of color)... This could mean very good or very bad things for y'all ;)

Nia was a bit more than surprised to receive a hug upon entering the lab. Then less surprised when it was Helen and not Tony. Although Tony's look of concern was basically akin to hug in her eyes. Once Helen let go, Tony visually checked Nia for superficial scars and injuries.

“Y’know I wasn’t the one who got robbed and broke a leg.” She told him. He shot her a look. “I’m fine, pops. Nothing was hurt besides my neighbor, and she got out of the hospital this morning with a pair of crutches.” She grinned at him and set her bag on her desk before pulling him into an actual hug. “Thank you for being worried about me.”

Tony wriggled out of her grip and shrugged. “The lab gets boring.”

“Don’t get all callous and snarky on me now, Stark!” Nia said excitedly. “You checked me for injuries just now. Pietro and Wanda came over last night and told me you were gonna check on me at my apartment. You’ve been texting me non-stop. You looked like my mom when she found out one of the older girls was stuffing me in a trash can everyday at lunch as soon as I stepped off the elevator. I may not be used to people being worried about me, but I know when they are.”

Caught, and impressed by her emotional detective work, Tony sighed. “I was worried, okay?” He admitted. “Don’t let it go to your head, you’ll end up like Rhodey.”

“I won’t.” She walked over to Nu-JARVIS and smiled at their progress. It was now an almost fully developed orange tinted orb of energy and information. Most of the AI work was done, all they needed to do now was add the voice and run a test of the prototype. “I see you two got a bit of work done.”

“We had to, someone had hero work to attend to.”

Nia broke into laughter. “Just when I think we’re forming a deep emotional bond, you crush it somehow.” Helen started heading for the elevator. “Dr. Cho, thank you for enduring him while I was out.”

She smiled. “Someone has to make sure he doesn’t act on his impulses.”

Tony scoffed. “First of all, I do what I damn well please whether I have supervision or not. Second of all, crushing emotional bonds is one of my minor talents, you get used to it.”

“Whatever, Tin-Man. I know there’s a heart in there somewhere.”

“There is not.”

“Oh… right.”

“Anyway, there are much more interesting matters to attend to in the room, Miss. Miller.” He spun Nu-JARVIS around. “It’s close to being done. We’re about 60% of there. I just want to make sure that what we have here is at least somewhat functioning before we go patting ourselves on the back. So we should run our first test now.”

“I never pat myself on the back.” Nia told him while preparing the prototype for the test. “I don’t want to start thinking I’m hot shit or anything.”

Tony nodded. “I get that but you’re wrong, you happen to be the hottest of shit.”

“Gee… Thanks.”

“I feel like I still know so little about you…” Tony said.

“Good. I keep my personal and professional life separate for a reason.” _Why the fuck you lyin’? Why you always lyin’? Mmmm oh my God…_ “It’s just more comfortable.” _Stop fucking lyin’!_

“Favorite movie?” He asked. “You look like a Wes Anderson person.”

“Guillermo Del Toro, actually.” She told him. “Outside of Lord of the Rings my favorite movie is Pan’s Labyrinth. I don’t mind Wes Anderson, however. His cinematography is some of the best in the business.”

“You know a lot about movies.”

“I wanted to be a movie make-up artist at one point as a teenager.” She giggled to herself. “I’ve only told one other person that.”

“Your boyfriend?”

She blushed. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“No one blushes about platonic relationships, Nia.”

“You don’t have to tell me what his name is.”

“I wasn’t going to.”

“But now I’m curious…”

“Run the fucking test.”

Nia stepped out of Tony’s way and he increased the power going into Nu-JARVIS. The orb became brighter as the synapses jumped rapidly across the database. It definitely worked. But how powerful, how quick could it become? He turned the power up more, they could hear a whizzing noise as all the components really started to interact.

Nia looked on in wonder and pride. She did this. She did this with Tony fucking Stark. This was the dream her parents tried to deny her. This was the dream she almost denied herself.

Then Tony turned the power up a little more. She raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure about that, buddy?”

“Nope.”

One of the synapses became violently flashy, as if it had gone rogue. Nia’s eyes widened and she pushed him out of the way and turned it off just as it was about to whip in their direction. “I said turn it off, Tony! Jesus…” She blew her hair out of her face. He looked at her in shock. “Try not to die with me standing next to you! I’ve had enough heart attacks to kill me three times over since I moved to New York.”

“Yeah… sorry…” He said. “Nia, it _worked_.”

“Yeah, it was ‘working’ it’s way over to electrocute you.”

He held her by the shoulders and a proud smile crossed his face. “You’ve just created your first AI, Nia. Your first functioning AI. It worked.”

Suddenly she wasn’t angry anymore. The excitement returned. The euphoria finally hit her. “It worked.”

He let go and tossed her bag to her. “Let’s get something to eat and go bother those assholes downstairs.”

“You really want to take a break now? It’s been less than thirty minutes.”

“Why not?” Pietro’s notification sound rang. He raised an inquiring eyebrow and tried to peek at the sender. “Look who’s ruining the emotional bond now.”

The text was simply ‘3rd floor. hallway. gift for u.’ and left Nia with more questions than answers but this was the nature of Pietro. Hell, it was the nature of Wanda. Those two were impossible to completely decode.

‘Now???’ she responded, angling the phone away from Tony.

Seconds later he replied, ‘nia pls don’t make me come get u’.

‘Is the gift permanently attached to the lower half of your body?’

‘ur such a pervert, pull ur head from the gutter’

‘For the record, I wasn’t a pervert before I met you… ;D’

She looked up at Tony. “I have to go run a quick errand but I’ll meet you in the training area as soon as I can.”

“Alright, but don’t make me wait, I need back-up.”

She laughed and ran to the elevator. “Back-up in case of what?”

He started whining. “In case the other kids bully me.”

“You can handle yourself for five minutes.”

* * *

She got to the third floor, which wasn’t usually populated since that’s where all the rooms were. The Avengers only ever used it if they needed temporary living quarters, and her room was being prepared at the end of the hall. The most exciting part about that was the prospect of no longer having to sleep in the lab. There was no way to comfortably sleep in the lab.

Pietro met up with her by the elevator, surprisingly clothed. It was a little disappointing but she’d live. He was holding something behind his back.

“What is it?” She asked.

“There is story to go with it, hold on…”

Nia smiled. “Should I sit? Or…”

“It’s a quick story.” She crossed her arms. “So, my sister and I were coming back from your apartment and we found a little shop nearby that sold toys and things. I went in there, Wanda didn’t want to-”

“Oh God.”

“There was a teddy bear on a shelf that I knew would interest you…”

“Pietro Maximoff, you did not…” He pulled the bear from behind his back. It was a fuzzy golden furred teddy bear dressed as Gandalf the Grey. She squealed and held in her arms like a child. “He’s perfect!” She threw her arms around Pietro’s shoulders and he lifted her off the ground. “You didn’t have to spend all your money on me, though.”

He kissed her. “I didn’t mind.”

“You’re the sweetest.” She gasped. “We’ve been together for almost a month.”

He grinned. “Have we? I thought it was longer.”

“That’s because time moves slower for you.”

“Maybe that’s true or maybe it is because I…” He paused and rewound his thoughts, replacing his statement before he slipped up. “... am having a great time being with you.”

“What were you gonna say before that?”

“It’s not important, not yet.” He kissed her again. “Are you doing anything this Saturday?”

“You know the answer to that, babe.”

“Movies?”

She nodded. “Yes! That would be fun. I haven’t been to the movies in a while.”

“We will talk later then.” He started playing with the hem of her cotton shorts. “Or we could talk now… My room is down the hall.”

She bit her lip and pulled away. “I told Tony I’d protect him from the ‘mean, scary’ Avengers downstairs. But how about you meet me here in a few hours and give me a full tour of your room?”

He nodded. “I’ll see you then.”

She kissed him on the cheek and walked back to the elevator, squeezing the teddy bear close to her heart as the doors closed between them. Pietro let out a deep sigh and ran his hands through his hair. He needed to have a little time alone to think things over. His mind was working too fast for him to keep up.

He couldn’t believe he almost admitted that he was _in love_ with her.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "why the fuck you lyin'?" is the greatest meme on earth. I literally wrote that in in the middle of the night half-asleep ad when I found it the morning I just kept it in. There was no reason to take it out, it was perfect. Also I'm really inconsistent with how I write text messages into these chapters and I'm sorry.


	12. The Creepy Guy At The Movies is Creepy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so happy to be returning to the stupid long chapter titles.

The knotted feeling in Pietro’s stomach was unreal, it was also new. He wasn’t an idiot, he knew this was what feeling ‘in love’ felt like, he just didn’t expect it to come this soon. Was he crazy for falling this soon? Was he crazy for the racing of his heart when she smiled at him? Was he crazy for wanting to know everything about her but also being content with knowing nothing more? Was he crazy for needing to talk to her everyday? Was he crazy for not ever wanting to see her with someone else? He felt crazy.

When he arrived at her apartment that Saturday to pick her up, her neighbor, Ellie, was also on her way in. She was hobbling along on crutches and grinned when she saw him. “Here to see your lady, huh?” She asked. “You seem very sweet.” He helped her to the door. “Thanks, she’s probably getting ready or something. I’ll let you in.”

“Much appreciated.”

She unlocked the door and he held it open for her. “Wow, you are straight-up Sokovian.” Ellie said, referring to his heavy accent. “When’d you come to the States?”

“Months ago.”

“Cool.” She pushed the up button for the elevator and turned to him. “You and Nia seem to have a great relationship. I wish my boyfriends were this sweet and eager to see me.”

“How would you know I’m eager?”

“You’re fidgeting a bit. You’re either eager or worried.”

Pietro cleared his throat. “She’s an amazing woman.”

“Sure, but amazing enough to still make you _nervous_ after dating for a month?” She smiled and poked him. “You’re in love with her, aren’t you?”

“In love? After a month? I don’t know about that...”

They stepped onto the elevator and Ellie got her apartment key ready. “Stranger things have happened. I do recall an alien army attacking New York like four years ago. I fell in love with my first real boyfriend after a few weeks. It’s different for everyone.”

He scraped his teeth along his bottom lip and his cheeks turned pink. “Is it that obvious?”

“Obvious and very cute. She won’t notice, though. She’s kinda clueless with these things. So, your secret is safe with me as long as it’s a secret.” They stepped off and Ellie walked to her door, turning back for one last word to him. “I wouldn’t keep it a secret for too long, anything could happen. I’ve been there.”

“Thank you, Ellie.”

“Don’t thank me, I was never here. We never spoke. By the way, have you heard the news about Tony Stark's secret new invention?"

"I wouldn't know anything about that."

"Oh, well, I'm sure Nia knows. It's up her alley."

"I'll ask her, but it is secret, yes? She might not know much about it."

Ellie giggled. "I don't doubt her power." She walked into her apartment quickly, locking the door behind her.

Pietro could hear Nia running around behind the door. He knocked and the sound stopped for a moment, then he heard a very quiet, “Shit!”. She ran and let him in. “I’m still picking shoes, I’m sorry.”

“The movie starts in twenty minutes, we have time.” He turned to her, admiring how she looked in her high-waisted shorts. She’d straightened her hair and twisted it into a loose bun on her head. Her makeup wasn’t heavy, plum colored lips and a quick cat eye. The blush on her cheeks was natural from him staring at her like that. “Gorgeous.”

“Thank you, I kinda went overboard with this.” She said, gesturing to her face. “I even bought a new nose ring.” She pulled out a pair of black Converse sneakers and laughed at herself. “This is my last resort shoe, I’m sorry if it looks ridiculous.”

He smiled. “It’s cute, you could never look ridiculous to me.”

“I wish I could say the feeling is mutual but you should see your face when you run into things during training.”

Once she had her shoes on, he wrapped his arms around her and she squeezed his waist. “You love watching me train.”

“Sure, Pietro.”

“You do.” He kissed her forehead and she nuzzled into his chest.

“Of course, baby.” She inhaled the smell of his freshly cleaned shirt and smiled. “You smell really good… That sounds weird.”

He chuckled and held her beautiful face in his hands. “We know each other well enough by now, I think.”

She bit her lip. “It’s still weird, Pietro.”

He stepped back so she could grab her purse and her wallet. Something was oddly enticing about the way her skin was catching the light. “Your skin is sparkling.”

“Glitter body dust.” She explained. “I like looking like I’m from outer space.”

He smiled. “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen...”

“You tell me this _all_ the time.”

“You’re just more and more beautiful everyday. I can’t help myself but to stare.”

Now Nia’s cheeks were hot. She took his hand and led him out. “Think you can take your eyes off of me long enough to focus on a movie, buddy?”

“Maybe if you hadn’t worn this outfit...”

* * *

Nia bought their tickets the night before, so the only thing they had to wait in line for were the snacks. They were obviously together, holding hands and smiling at each other as if they were the only ones around. Pietro couldn’t stop wondering about her feelings and whether or not they were identical to his. Every second with her ensured him that he was in love, but was she in love?

“Is your project with Stark going well?” Pietro asked.

She nodded excitedly. “We’re so close to being done! It’s a little unstable at the moment but I’m going to make sure nothing remotely Ultron-esque occurs. Don’t worry, I won’t give you any extra work.”

He grinned. “Not too bad. It would get me off my ass for a while.”

Nia sucked her teeth. “You’re always off your ass, that’s why you keep running out of shoes. I need to get off my own ass. That lab feels so small once you’ve spent enough time in it.”

“How about we trade positions for a day?”

“I can’t run as fast as you… Actually, no one can. Literally no one can.” She giggled. “Plus, I’m pretty sure you and Tony would murder each other after an hour.”

“You have no faith in me?”

“None!” She told him. “I definitely have no faith in Tony’s impulse to provoke.”

Pietro laughed. “Oh come on!”

A man walked by, smiling and staring at Nia. She didn’t notice, but Pietro saw it all. He glared at the stranger who gave him a thumbs up as if he were approving of Nia. He was so bothered by it, but he knew his quiet girlfriend wouldn’t want him to make a scene, so he didn’t.

“Pietro, you’re capable of a lot but dealing with people you don’t like is not your strong suit.”

He was still glaring at the stranger. “Yeah…”

They got popcorn to share and two bottles of water. Nia nudged Pietro with her elbow. “If you drop that popcorn, we’re going to have our first argument.”

“I’m not going to drop it, Nia, don’t worry.” He pretended to slip and she gasped. Her reaction make him laugh so hard that tears stung the corners of his eyes. “You really like popcorn.”

She shook her head. “You are an ass.”

They walked past the creepy stranger and he whistled at Nia. She was visibly uncomfortable but kept walking, it wasn’t worth the trouble. She got it all the time. Then he smiled at Pietro. “You are blessed, dude. Shit, if I had that in my bed every night… I wouldn’t be able to control myself. I’m barely able to right now, but that’s your turf.”

Pietro was now in attack mode, as if sirens had gone off in his head. “What did you just say to her?”

“Your girlfriend is hot as hell, and if I hadn’t seen you with her... Shit, I would’ve shown her things she’s never seen.”

“Ew, oh fuck…” Nia whispered, noticing the borderline homicidal look on her boyfriend’s face. “Fuck, you shouldn’t have said that to him…” She quickly grabbed the popcorn, setting him loose. “ _Please_ don’t get us kicked out.”

“I’ll just talk to him…”

“Shit…”

“What you just said about my girlfriend was rude and you will apologize.” He said in the most civil tone he could muster. “I’ll make sure you apologize to her.”

The man laughed. “It was a compliment!”

Pietro turned to Nia. “Драга, do you feel complimented by this man?” She shook her head and he turned back to the creep. “So, it wasn’t a fucking compliment, говнар.”

“She can’t fucking take a compliment, she’s stupid.”

“Oh fuck…” Nia muttered under her breath. “You shouldn’t have said that, you should’ve kept your mouth shut.”

Pietro clenched his fists. Trying to keep some restraint to keep himself from ruining their date. “You will leave. You will not make my girlfriend or any other woman here feel uncomfortable. If you don’t leave, and I find you out here, I will take you to the parking lot and I will make you swallow your own teeth. Promise.” Nia smiled. Blood drained from the man’s face and he made his way out of the theater. “Have a good night!”

He turned back around to Nia. “Thank you.” She told him. “I get catcalled all the time and no one stands up for me.”

“I couldn’t let him speak to you that way.” _I love you._ “I have to protect you.”

He took the popcorn from her and she leaned her head on his shoulder as they walked into the theater. “You don’t have to protect me, you chose to. That means the world to me.”

“I would choose to again without hesitation, Nia.” _  
_

She leaned in for a kiss and he met her lips, the knot in his stomach was pulled even tighter. “You know what this reminds me of?” She asked, wiping her lipstick stains from his lips with her thumb.

“What?”

“This episode of Being Human UK where Annie the ghost is assaulted by this creepy rogue werewolf named Tully and Mitchell the vampire throws him out the house.”

“No clue what you’re talking about.”

“I’ll add that to my Netflix watchlist then.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Драга- dear  
> говнар- shithead


	13. Random Acts of Kindness and Violence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very sleepy, and I'm sorry if this chapter is shit as a result of that.

Nu-JARVIS was ready to be tested again. This time they had it stabilized and almost fully-formed. They were at the 90% mark and Nia was antsy, to say the least. “If this works, I’m calling all the other Avengers over and we’re gonna have drinks. You can pick the music, I’ll host, and you have to try Sam’s cooking.” Tony told her. “It’ll be your final act as an intern, to get shitfaced and kiss anyone you want.”

She grinned and got the room set up for the test, dimming the lights to observe the synapses better. “Sounds like fun.”

“Do you think Vision can get drunk?” Tony asked her. “Could you imagine?”

“I think drunk Vision would just be Ultron.” She replied. “So let’s thank whatever governs this earth that Vision isn’t capable of getting drunk.”

Tony shrugged. “Wouldn’t that be hilarious, though? ‘Interesting, I’m quite inebriated’.”

Nia held in a giggle and shook her head. “I haven’t talked to the guy much, so I couldn’t tell you if that’s a good impression or not.”

“It is, trust me.” He walked over to her and observed her notebook. “You still take handmade notes? Amazing.”

“It doesn’t really translate as well when I’m typing it with my iPhone or something.” She told him. “There’s something old-fashioned about my brain.” She started the test with a few minor charges. The synapses began jumping across the board. The movement seemed smoother this time around. “Should we start testing its intelligence?”

Tony nodded. “I programmed that in this weekend while you were off doing something.”

_Definition of “something”: Going to the movies with Pietro. Drinking wine on the couch with Pietro. Having sex on the couch with Pietro._ “Cool.”

“I heard you got breakfast with The Maximoffs this morning, what was that like? Are they always kinda angsty?”

“They’re very sweet and very funny.” She told him. “They’re serious but, shit, I think they’ve earned the right to be.”

“Glad to see you’re making friends. After Nu-JARVIS is finished you can just forget about me, it’s fine.”

She smiled. “The probability of anyone forgetting Tony Stark is very low, just so you know. Unfortunately for the both us, a friendship has developed.”

“Worse things have happened to me.” He cleared his throat. “JARVIS?” The synapses reacted wildly. A mechanical whirring sound could faintly be heard in the silence and tension. “JARVIS, can you hear me, buddy?”

There was a short pause. Nia’s smile fell as they waited. Maybe it wasn’t as far along as they’d thought. Maybe Tony did something wrong in the programming- “ _Yes, sir_.”

They gasped and looked at each other in shock. “JARVIS, do you know who we are?”

“ _I know who you are, Mr. Stark. I also know you, Miss. Miller_.”

Nia stepped forward. “What do you know about me, JARVIS?”

It paused and searched through the data, pulling up a fuzzy image of her from her college days. She gasped and watched as multiple files came up. “ _You only have one arrest on your record and it’s for disturbing the peace, the charges were dropped…_ ”

“What?”

“I was a Black kid playing loud rap music to drown out my parents in the middle of South Philly. Blinking was considered disturbing the peace.”

“ _You were at the top of your graduating class at MIT. Quite like Mr. Stark._ ”

“Holy shit, Tony…”

He grinned. “You should probably write that down.”

* * *

After work, Nia was almost too excited to get home. Tony told her they’d be done in days, maybe even a single day if they really powered through. Her blood felt like it was electrified and she couldn’t wait to see the finished product after weeks of hard work. She only had a few days left as an intern, too. She planned to make out with Pietro in the middle of the dance floor and tell him and everyone else that he was her boyfriend and, more importantly, that she was in love with him.

She was a few blocks from home, texting Wanda about plans they’d made to go shopping later that month. Spotify was playing the most mellow tune and she walked with a bounce in her step. Tomorrow was going to be an exciting day, probably the most exciting of her life, she could hardly fathom that things reached this point.

There was a homeless man on that corner who looked like he was sick with a fever, shaking and coughing. She noticed him immediately and went over to check on him. In Philadelphia, homeless people were as regular a sight as street lights and she refused to walk past them and pretend not to see. New York hadn’t changed that about her.

“Sir, are you ill?”

He nodded and coughed away from her face. “Caught a cold in a shelter, figured I’d be healthier out here.”

She took out her phone. “Do you want me to take you to the hospital?”

“I don’t want you to touch me, you might catch whatever the fuck this is.”

“I can’t just leave you here.”

“You don’t look like you have the money to do this.”

“I don’t, but I have a friend who does and I really want you to get off the streets until that fever dies down, man. Sound like a plan?”

“You’re a good kid. Parents raised you right.”

She shrugged and dialed 911. “My parents didn’t really raise me much at all.”

The man’s eyes widened and he panicked. “Hey, hey, LOOK OUT!”

She turned and found a man trying to grab her bag. She screamed and kicked him in the balls as hard as she could with her boots. A 911 operator finally answered her call as she stepped in front of the homeless man to protect him from any potential harm.

“I don’t have any money, so you just made the fucking stupidest decision of your life.” She told him. She held the phone between her shoulder and ear while she dug mace out of her bag. “I’m being mugged and there’s a homeless man here who needs medical assistance!”

The mugger stood up and she maced him as soon as he started to come close to her, then grab him by the back of his head and slammed his face into her knee. That was a trick she learned from watching Agent Romanoff train. It pays to work with The Avengers.

The attacker was out cold, she turned and saw that the homeless man managed to find and lift a trash bin to use as a weapon. She grinned. “Thank you.”

“I wasn’t quite sure how much you had the situation handled.”

“My job is very big on self-defense.”

He raised an eyebrow and pointed to her clothes.“You’re wearing little 90s-esque black denim overalls.”

“We also don’t have a dress code.” She walked over to the unconscious man and stared at him. “This doesn’t feel right… He felt that my bag was empty but kept trying to get it.”

“He’s an idiot, what doesn’t feel right?”

She furrowed her brows and turned the attacker over to see his face.“It doesn’t feel right because I have something that other people, bad people, would want to steal...”

“You have it with you?”

“Thankfully, no.” She replied. “But I don’t think this is the last time me and my friend here will be seeing each other.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI Philly really has so many fucking homeless people and it weighs heavily on my heart and I figured it would weigh heavily on Nia's, too.  
> The homeless man may or may not show up again... :)


	14. Self-Preservation is the Name of the Game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so halfway through this i realized i don't know how to write vision's dialogue and i like blaming joss whedon for stuff so i'm gonna blame joss whedon for this

After getting the homeless man set up in the hospital and watching the mugger get carried off by the police, Nia made a quick call to Tony in the hallway. She was still shaken up so she dialed the wrong number twice before finally getting her boss on the line.

She knew someone wanted her notes. She had to protect both the notes and herself, so she wanted to stay home for a little bit, keep them from getting a chance. In good time she’d tell everyone why, but she had to figure out a way to adjust. Danger was a part of the job, right? She just needed to adapt.

“H-hey Tony…”

“What’s wrong?” Tony asked. “You sound like you just saw a ghost.”

She cleared her throat and leaned against the wall, keeping a vigilant eye on the people passing her by. “I just got mugged.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, the mugger’s face got very intimate with my knee.” She said with a small nervous chuckle, “I was calling to ask if you would pay the hospital bill of a homeless man who tried to help me.”

“Sure. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m gonna need a day or two off.”

“Alright, but I’ll still need you for Nu-JARVIS…”

She shook her head as if he could see her. “You don’t need me, Tony.”

“You were so excited about finishing tomorrow-”

“Please, Tony!” She cried. “I know I was excited, I still am but… I can’t go into work tomorrow so you have to finish the project. Please?”

He sighed. “Fine. Any other requests, Nia?”

“Yeah, um, don’t tell the Maximoffs or Sam or Rhodey or anyone why I’m home.”

“You want me to lie to them?”

“Tell them I’m sick.” A part of her knew that wouldn’t keep Pietro away, but she had to try. “Like projectile vomiting. A bug I got from someone on the subway or something.”

There was a pause and she could tell he was concerned but he also didn’t want her to think he was pressuring her. “I’ll put on a show.”

She let out a breath of relief and smiled. “Thank you, thank you, thank you. Please Skype me or something once Nu-JARVIS is up and running, I want to see it.”

“I wish you could see it in person…”

“Tony.”

“I’ll respect your wishes, kid. I promise.”

“Thanks, I’ll talk to you later.”

“Talk to you later.”

* * *

Sam and Vision walked into the lab after Sam noticed that he wasn’t hearing any of the usual talking or bickering that came with Tony and Nia spitballing ideas. Tony was hard at work on Nu-JARVIS but his mind was elsewhere. Sam raised an eyebrow. “Hey, man, where’s Nia?”

Tony turned to them. “She called and said she’s sick.”

“Miss. Miller is ill? How so?” Vision asked. “When I saw her leave yesterday evening she looked fine.”

Tony shrugged. “She woke up feeling like shit. Sometimes it happens. Must be something going around.”

“I should pop by and check on her.” Sam said.

He shook his head and turned back around to the project. “No, she’s projectile vomiting and feverish, who knows how contagious she is.”

Neither of them believed him. They looked at each other and back to Tony. Sam crossed his arms. “Is that so?”

“Yup, see you both later.”

“We recognize that she’s become some sort of a daughter figure to you, Tony,” Vision said. Tony rolled his eyes and turned back around to them. “But if she’s in trouble, we’d appreciate knowing.”

“Pietro isn’t gonna believe that she’s sick.” Sam told him. “Wanda sure as hell won’t either. Once those two know what’s going on, we’ll find out anyway.”

“She told me she’s sick. _She_ told _me_. I’m not ‘covering’ for her, I’m just passing on a message.”

“You don’t believe her either...” Vision told him. “There’s nothing but worry on your face.”

“I have work to do.” He told them. “Work she asked me to finish. She’ll be back soon. Don’t worry. Or, at the very least, worry upstairs.”

Knowing Tony really wouldn’t break, they left the lab. Sam shook his head. “What do you think Pietro’s gonna do to him when he gives him that answer?”

“I don’t want to think about it.”

* * *

Hours later, Nia was in her apartment, laying low and watching The Hobbit movies like she always did when she was stressed. The smallest sudden noise startled her. By the middle of the day she’d realized that the attack was too close to her place for comfort. Luckily everything related to Nu-JARVIS was at the lab, but how would her attacker know that?

She asked Ellie if she noticed anyone weird besides the man who attacked her, and she said that she didn’t. She also wondered if it was the same man who attacked her and he was just terrorizing local women. Nia considered it, but the bag thing was just throwing her off by a mile. Why would he keep coming if he knew she didn’t have money? She didn’t even have her wallet! She told Ellie to be careful and that she’d be in her apartment all day if she needed anything. She understood.

Now, it was a little past midnight. Skype notified her that Tony was online, she grinned and opened up a video chat with him. She couldn’t wait to see the finished product of her work.

His hand was covering the webcam and she sucked her teeth. “Come on, man!”

“I’m just bringing a little showmanship to the party.”

She wriggled excitedly in her seat and whined. “Tooonyyy!” He took his hand away and there it was: Nu-JARVIS. It was, surprisingly, bright green and beautiful. Tony stood behind it and spun it around. “JARVIS, can you hear me?”

“ _Yes, I can, Miss. Miller. At your service_.”

She started crying. Something about the tension of the day and the excitement of the moment was bringing her to weep. “Can you take compliments?”

“ _Um, sure, Miss. Miller_.”

“You look fuckin’ BOSS!”

“ _Thank you, ma’am_.”

“Soon we’ll use him to chat instead of Skype. You’ll just have to get a custom-made Starkphone…”

She laughed. “Are you really doing this to me?”

“Free of charge, of course.” He said. “Think of it as a company perk.”

“This is the greatest moment of my life.”

“It’ll be even greater when you come back… Tomorrow?” He asked, hopefully.

Nia’s smile fell and she shook her head. “There’s something going on and I have to figure out what it is for myself.” She replied. “I know everything seems weird, but trust me it’s for the best that I lay low for a while.”

“How long is a while?”

“A few days, maybe a week. I’m considering going off the grid. Tell the others.”

Tony was shocked, to say the least. He wanted to know what was so serious. Why couldn’t she tell him? “Isn’t that a bit much, Nia?”

“Tony Stark thinks _I’m_ doing a bit much?” The joke fell flat. “It might be a bit much, but I need time to figure out a problem… Or figure out if there is a problem to begin with… I don’t want you getting involved, you have enough to worry about as it is.”

“Do you want your notebook?”

She shook her head. “No, no, no keep it there. It’s important that it stays there, Tony.”

“But why?”

“I… I can’t talk about it. I probably shouldn’t even be using Skype, I’ll talk to you soon, Tony.” She closed Skype, cut off her wi-fi connection, and went back to watching The Hobbit as if nothing just happened.

 


	15. Pietro Does the Thing

Days turned into a week, a week turned into a week and three days, and Pietro turned into a nervous wreck. He was following Tony around like a ghost because he knew that Tony knew something about where Nia was and how she was doing, and he wasn’t going to let him go about his day while he worried about his girlfriend. He also had to keep up the ruse that she actually wasn’t his girlfriend, and that was a lot of mental acrobatics.

“I told you, she’s probably home.” Tony said, brushing him off. “Call her.”

Pietro groaned. “I can’t call her, Stark.”

“Is your phone not working?”

“Могли смо да видимо колико добро то ради гурнуо у гузицу…”

Tony shrugged. “I don’t have a clue what you’ve just said, just like I don’t have a clue where your best friend is.”

“She won’t answer the phone!” Pietro said. “I’m worried. If she’s sick, like you say, she could be in the hospital.”

“Maybe she’s just taken some more time off. All I know is she’s not here and she doesn’t want anyone going to her apartment. Sounds like she’s sick to me.”

Now Pietro’s temper was starting to flare. Sam, Steve, and Natasha could hear the conversation happening from around the corner and tried to keep their distance, hoping it wouldn’t escalate. “Over a week, Stark?!” He asked. “You know her, she works too hard to be away from her work for this long!”

“She said she’d be gone this long, okay? Do you think I’m not worried?”

Pietro ran in front of him. “Actually, I don’t think you’re worried.”

“Is that so?” Tony asked, not in the mood to deal with this. He really didn’t know where she was, and he was just as concerned as everyone else, but he also told her he’d honor her request to be left alone. “I’m sorry to disappoint you.”

“Hey!” Sam shouted, rushing to intervene.

Pietro was practically ready to fight Tony right then and there. “You know where she is, I know you do.”

Sam gently pushed Pietro back and stood in the middle of the two men. “Pietro, man, back off. It isn’t worth it.” Pietro ran his fingers through his hair and took a deep breath to defuse. “If he doesn’t know, he doesn’t know.”

“I’m sorry, Sam, I’m just fucking worried.”

He nodded and led him away before Tony could restart the argument somehow. “I know, I know. She’s your friend. I would do the same for anyone here.”

“Why isn’t she answering calls?” Pietro asked.

“Tony said she went off the grid. People do that.”

Pietro lowered his voice. “I will visit her apartment later.”

Sam raised an eyebrow. “I thought she said not to.”

Pietro smirked. “She knows I’m not good with instructions.” Seeing that Sam was visibly worried about how this could turn out, and probably wouldn’t let him go, Pietro made a decision. A very risky, very dumb decision. ”I have something to tell you.”

Sam laughed. “Is it any dumber than what you just told me?”

“A bit. You cannot tell a soul. I’m only telling you because I can trust you.”

“Go ahead, dude.”

Pietro’s face turned pinkish and he looked down at his feet. “Nia and I have been dating for almost two months.”

Sam nodded. “Is that it?”

His eyes darted up in shock. “You knew?”

“Nat and I caught on. We’re the only ones that have caught on, but we caught on. We knew about Tony’s rule so we didn’t tell y’all that we knew but, trust me, _we knew_.”

“What gave it away?”

“Storage closets aren’t soundproofed, Pietro. Plus, you two smile like idiots whenever you see each other.”

“Then you understand why I have to go see her.”

“I do, but I also understand that she doesn’t want anyone to see her, including you. She might just be stressed about her and Tony’s project and needs to decompress. Remember, she’s not used to this shit, she’s fresh out of college.”

Pietro sighed. “I know…”

“Listen, if you do go visit her, don’t be hurt if she doesn’t want to see you. It’s probably nothing personal.”

“This is so complicated.”

“Yeah, welcome to my life.”

* * *

Nia was at her apartment, she’d planned to go back to work that day, but was still doing research on cyber-terrorist organizations and the _hundreds_ of people that targeted Stark Industries over the years. She knew this was textbook paranoia, but she couldn’t shake it off. She wanted to make sure it was something before looking insane in front of Tony. Not that she looked sane by barricading herself in her apartment for almost two weeks… She had to leave anyway, she was running out of milk. So she added that to her growing mental to-do list.

She jumped when she heard someone knock on the door. She’d specifically told people not to stop by so she couldn’t imagine who it could’ve been. The only person who actually violated that request so far was Ellie who accidentally got some of her mail.

She got off the couch and looked through the peephole and was only a little surprised to see her boyfriend standing there. She pressed her forehead to the door and tried to think of something to say to him, a way to explain herself. _He’s gonna think I’m absolutely nuts…_

She opened the door and he immediately pulled her into a hug. “I’ve been so worried, Nia. What’s going on?” She pulled him inside and closed the door. “Tony isn’t telling me anything.”

“I _asked_ Tony not to tell you anything.” She replied, nervously blowing a stray curl from her face. "I asked everyone not to come over, but I should've remembered that you're not good with instructions."

"I just wanted to check on you."

She nodded, keeping her distance, hoping he'd leave soon. She really didn't want him involved in this at all. "I'm fine."

“Were you really sick?” He asked.

“Do I look sick?”

“A little. You look like you haven’t slept most of all.”

“I’ve been working at home.” She told him. “Staying away from people for a bit. I didn’t mean to worry you.”

He laughed at her. “Nia, I was a little more than worried about you when you stopped answering your phone.”

She sighed. “I know this looks bad-”

“No shit.”

She was caught off-guard by his tone and crossed her arms. “Something happened and I needed space, it has nothing to do with you.”

Pietro scoffed and got closer to her. “Yeah, I get that, but you need to tell me when you need space so I don’t lose fucking sleep worrying about you!”

“I don’t know what it’s like to have people worry about me, I’m sorry!” She shouted. “I’m not used to having people wondering if I’m okay. I’m used to shutting down like this and hiding until the problem goes away. Fuck, Pietro, what do you want from me?”

“You have me now!” His yelling made her jump. He felt bad, but he had to get this off of his chest. “You have me and Wanda and the team worrying about you! I know you are used to being alone, but you aren’t anymore and when you shut down like this it really hurts everyone else! I want to be there for you and protect you!”

Nia’s eyes were brimming with tears. She wiped them away with the palm of her hand. “I guess I don’t get it!”

“What is there to get?!”

“I don’t get why everyone cares so much! I don’t get why you care so much! I’m nothing special! Fucking hell, I don’t even know why Tony hired me still. I thought I could disappear and no one would notice because that’s what I’m used to, Pietro! I’m the loser! I’m the disappointment! I’m invisible! Tell me why you care so much about me when I’m so unremarkable in every way possible!”

“BECAUSE I LOVE YOU, NIA!” He shouted, hands shaking and eyes watering as if he’d said it with his entire body. "And you only think that you are all of those things but you are the most remarkable person, and it would take torture for me to simply 'forget' you!" Nia was disarmed in a second. He took a deep breath and tried to collect himself. “I’m sorry for shouting, I-”

She kissed him right in the middle of his sentence, throwing him completely off. When she pulled away, he was glad but no less confused. “I love you, too.” She said. “I didn’t know you felt the same way…”

“I do, Nia, I do.” He held her face in his hands and smiled. “I just need to know you are safe and okay because I’ve lived most of my life without you and I would rather not have to return to that.”

“You’re serious?

“Of course I’m serious.”

She cleared her throat and tried to muster the words to explain what happened to her. Her ears still ringing with his 'I love you', as was evident by the goofy grin she was trying so hard to suppress. “I was mugged about a week and a half ago.”

“Were you hurt?”

“No, but…" _Here comes the crazy_. "I don’t think it was just a random mugger.”

“What do you mean?”

“The project I’m working on with Tony... I’ve been recording every detail of it’s development in a notebook. Usually I take it home to revise, but since we finished, I kept it there.”

“You’ve been carrying the same bag the entire time you have worked with The Avengers.”

Nia nodded. “Exactly, and the first thing they went for was my bag, which is empty. They grabbed my bag and felt it up, so they would’ve known it was empty.”

“Right…” He raised an eyebrow. “You have told Stark this?” She shook her head. “Nia!”

“He has to focus on the project and equipping everyone else with it and equipping buildings and possibly a suit. I’d be a distraction. Besides, I don’t even know if I’m right. The whole fucking reason I barricaded myself in my apartment was to do research and avoid being followed.”

He pulled her back into his arms and kissed the top of her head. “You don’t know you’re wrong either, Nia. You have to tell him.”

“You don’t think I’m crazy?”

He smiled. “What part of ‘I love you’ do you not understand, huh? You could be craziest person in the room and I’d still be like ‘that’s my girl’. Besides, I think we both know that I've heard crazier shit from my teammates."

She giggled. “I love you so much.”

“I love you more, and I’m dragging your ass to work tomorrow.”

“That would imply that you’re staying the night.”

“I’m not implying anything, _I’m staying the night_.”

She sucked her teeth and went to go make herself some tea. “It’s the middle of the day, Pietro, you need to go back to work.”

He followed her into the kitchen and sat on a stool. “I think I’ll stay if you don’t mind.”

“I do mind because you have to go back to work.”

He shook his head. “I won’t go back unless you are with me.” She gave in and a grin spread across her face. “You and I will take a personal day.”

How could she resist that face? “Okay, but I don’t want Steve or Natasha to yell at me tomorrow morning.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i want y'all to know that the chapter count is indefinite and i should have a finalized count by the next update :)  
> also GO SEE THE MARTIAN  
> and if you're reading this at a point where the martian is no longer in theaters, GO WATCH THE MARTIAN SOMEHOW  
> TRANSLATIONS  
> Могли смо да видимо колико добро то ради гурнуо у гузицу… - We could see how well it works up your ass...


	16. They Aren't Really Gonna Play Uno

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SMUT CHAPTER  
> re-wrote it 3 times, it has very little plot relevance so you can skip it if you want, i just wanted to write a sex scene at 2am :D

Nia was so cute, running into the bedroom after a shower wearing one of Pietro's t-shirts and a pair of panties. He was sitting on the bed in his boxers reading one of the books she had lying around when she hopped in next to him.

"Dude, I found my fucking Uno cards!" She exclaimed.

She started shuffling them and he put his hands over her’s and kissed her nose. “You need to sleep.”

She shook her head. “Sleep is such a bourgeois concept, why would I ever need to do that?”

“Because you are far too cute to be tired, my love.”

She pouted and pulled out the puppy dog eyes before dealing him a card from the deck. He sighed. “One round?”

“Nia…”

“Please? One round and then I’ll go to sleep. Scout’s honor.”

He surrendered and she excitedly dealt his hand. “You were in the Girl Scouts?”

She nodded. “Everyone hated me because I was too shy to sell cookies efficiently so I’d usually just sit back and play with my Gameboy while everyone else did actual work.”

He laughed. “Well, if it makes you feel any better. We didn’t really have scouts in Sokovia but I do recall going on small adventures with my sister."

“I cannot imagine you without the hair and the superpowers.”

“Try to imagine a small dark haired boy in a poor Roma family in Sokovia with a talent for getting himself in trouble.”

Nia giggled. “That’s a very specific thing to have a person imagine and I am running on maybe three hours of sleep.” She pushed her hair out of her face and drew the first card of the game. “I wish I’d known you and Wanda as kids. My life would’ve been so much more fun.”

He groaned with embarrassment and put down a wild card. “I was such a shit to girls I liked back then.”

“So nothing has changed?”

He rolled his eyes and kissed her. “I’m a great boyfriend.”

“Do you remember how we met or have you forgotten?” She asked. “Because I do recall you distracting me from work just to eat me out.”

“Okay, okay, I’m still a shit.” He admitted. “But I only want to be your little shit.”

“We’ll see if you say that after like a year.”

“I will.” He ran his hands through his hair and idly held her's, running a thumb across her fingers while she looked down at her cards. "My family moved around a lot when I was little... Well, not so much moved as we were 'evicted' by our neighbors."

Nia was struck by his candidness and turned from her cards. "Because you were Romani?"

He nodded. "Because we were Romani, because we were Jews, the reasoning was always shit."

"Sounds like America." She sighed. "The STEM world is a white boys club. I tried joining a lot of clubs throughout college and high school that wouldn't take me because I'm female or because I'm Black. I felt so isolated, y'know? It's fucked up."

"The world is fucked up." He said. "But if those people reject you for some nonsense like the beautiful color of your skin, that is their loss and my gain."

She blushed. "You're the first non-Black guy I ever liked that hasn't called me a ‘Nubian Goddess’ at some point." He laughed. "Do you even have Black people in Sokovia?"

"There are Black people everywhere, I've seen some of them in Sokovia. I must be honest, they don't get treated too well."

"That doesn't surprise me, I lived in Japan. Still, I kinda want to visit Sokovia."

"If Wanda and I ever return, we'll take you along."

"Will I get treated badly?"

He chuckled. "Not without consequence."

She smiled. "My knight in shining armor."

"I prefer bodyguard." He kissed her knuckles and looked at the cards. "Are you ever going to put down a card?"

"Shut up, Pietro, this game takes strategy."

His face lit up with the dumbest, biggest smile. "You're so cute!"

"Shut up."

"You're so adorable."

She rolled her eyes. "You know, we don't have to play."

"Good, you can get some sleep."

She started putting all of the cards back into the deck and whined. "I'm not even tired, fuck off."

"You need to sleep, Nia."

She rolled her eyes. Sleep had not come easy lately, and no amount of trying seemed to help. "Фуцк ме."

Pietro's thoughts immediately stopped. "Do you know what you just said?"

She got up and put the cards on her dresser. "Yeah, I do. I know how to swear in multiple languages."

"Then you should know what that just did to me."

She giggled. "Unintended result, but that's how most great discoveries happen."

He sat at the edge of the bed and ran his tongue across his lips. "Come over here." He told her. "I will fix your sleep problem."

_Well, damn..._ She walked over to him and he pulled her onto his lap, running warm, strong hands along her thighs. "How will you fix my sleep problem?"

He kissed her neck and her shoulders. "Simple, really..." He said between kisses. His accent became stronger and his voice husky. "Fucking the restlessness right out of you."

"I thought people called it love-making after saying 'I love you'."

"They're the same to me." He told her, his hands steadily moving up her thighs. "If you really love someone, they deserve to be fucked the right way, as often as possible."

He grinded against her, letting her feel him growing as his lips travelled around her exposed skin. She moaned, arms wrapping around his shoulders. "Is that how you feel about me?"

"You?" He asked. He held her face and looked into her eyes before he started grinding his erection harder into her panties that were quickly becoming soaking wet. Her moans got louder and louder and, even when her eyes almost squeezed shut, Pietro never broke eye contact. "You,   
љубав мог живота, deserve to be fucked so well that the entire city hears you and you feel my hands on you for days and you're unable to speak afterwards."

"Fuck, Pietro!"

She could already feel herself on the brink and they hadn't even taken their underwear off. He was grinding against her clit, she moved her hips to meet his. He knew she was close, and wasn't even attempting to stop her.

Her eyes squeezed shut and her lips parted and he went even faster. Her breath hitched in her throat as she came suddenly on top of him. He slowed down as she came down from her orgasm and started running his hands under her shirt.

"I love watching you come." He whispered. "So perfect... I want to taste you."

He laid back, lifting her over his head and holding her exactly where he needed her. He licked a stripe across her panties, she was still so sensitive, she almost screamed. He pulled her panties over her thighs and kissed the newly exposed skin.

"Do you ever touch yourself?" He asked. She bit her lip and nodded. "What do you think of?"

"Y-you..."

"What am I doing to you?"

"Tongue..."

He looked up at her and licked her again. "Like that?"

"Yes!"

He licked circles around her wetness, tasting his sweet handiwork and only reaping more rewards. He spelled 'I L-O-V-E Y-O-U' with his tongue before quickly flicking her sensitive clit.

"Fuck!"

He spelled the word 'A-V-E-N-G-E-R-S', punctuating the word with a vibrating exclamation point. Soon enough his tongue was inside of her, she gripped the fabric of her t-shirt and wriggled with pleasure as he fucked her with his vibrating tongue.

He pulled out to breathe and licked his lips. "Touch yourself for me."

Her shaking hands started rubbing her clit as he resumed doing that amazing thing with his tongue.

She was moaning his name and swearing. Her scent and her taste was overwhelming. Pietro could've come right then and there, but he wanted her to come first.

"I'm... Baby! Yes!" Her head fell back as she reached her peak again, he vibrated even faster to get her to release. The feeling of her walls clenching  around his tongue was indescribable. He licked her clean and flipped her on her back.

"I love you." He said

She smiled. "I love you too."

"Hope you don't mind me ripping this shirt."

"By all means."

"Oh, thank you." He tore her shirt and went to work on her breasts. He cupped one while licking and sucking the other, releasing it with a pop and moving on to the next. Then he leaned back up and met her lips with a hot kiss. She could feel his hard member twitching and rubbing against her wetness through his underwear. He was ready and so was she.

The teasing was almost too much. "Pietro, please."

"Please what?"

"Fuck me."

He smiled. "As you wish."

She giggled and he grabbed a condom from her drawer. "Did you just fucking drop a Princess Bride reference mid-sex?"

He rolled it on and climbed on top of her again. "I thought you'd appreciate it."

"God, I love you."

He kissed her lovingly, gently on the lips. Hands roaming her sides while he decided what to do with her next.

"How do you want me?" Nia moaned.

He swallowed hard and sat up. "On your hands and knees."

She thought he didn't like it this way. He said he felt it was too impersonal, and always wanted to be able to see her face as she came undone. Still, she did as she was told, he never disappointed.

He knelt behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Slowly lowering her on to him. He held her face towards him so he wouldn't lose his favorite view. He lightly kissed her neck and started stroking into her, trying to fill her completely, claiming her as his own. Her back was flush to his chest. He kissed and sucked on her shoulders, leaving dark passion marks.

She rolled her hips on him, urging him to go faster, but not wanting to rush. He steadily increased his pace, getting high on the feeling of being inside of her. It was like a dance, a joining of body and soul, a physical love letter. The touch was tender and sweet, Pietro pressed his forehead to her's as he thrust into her.

"Harder..." She whispered.

He smiled and honored her wishes, holding her waist so that he could go harder, go deeper. Her moans were loud, some almost sounding like screams. The pressure in her core starting to build again. He quickly pulled out and had her on her back again, pinning her hands to the bed and thrusting in again. This time he was a little rougher, but he hadn't lost control yet. She dug her nails into the hands pinning them to the bed.

"Fuck, Nia..." He growled. "Tell me you love me." She moaned and lifted her hips up to his, trying to keep in rhythm with his thrusts. Her brain was filled with static, she couldn't think hard enough to speak.

"Pietro..."

His hips snapped forward as he started using his speed, hitting the spot he really needed to hit. She screamed. "FUCK!"

They were both so close now, drifting towards the hazy edge together. "Shit- NIA,TELL ME YOU LOVE ME!"

"I LOVE YOU, PIETRO!"

She came harder than ever before, walls tightening and releasing multiple times as he kept pounding into her. He was too far behind, letting go of her hands to hold her waist as he pulled himself over the edge inside of her. He slowed his pace and held her there for a bit.

"Fuck..." He whispered. "Can you sleep now?"

She was breathless and glowing and she smiled at him before turning off the light. "You've cured me, Dr. Maximoff. I should sleep just fine now."

He laughed and kissed her like a drunk before pulling out and getting up to throw away the condom. "Always happy to help."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations  
> Фуцк ме - fuck me  
> љубав мог живота - love of my life


	17. Back to Normal or Nah?

Pietro told Nia he was taking her back to work whether she liked it or not, and he very well meant he was taking her back to work whether she liked it or not. She knew that he knew that if he had let her stay home another day, it would be weeks and shittons of self-inflicted trauma before she finally returned. She also knew that he had her best interests at heart, and he knew that she’d try to get out of it regardless. They were both right.

“What if I go back tomorrow, fresh and early?” Nia asked as he was making coffee. She could hear him snickering, but she still had to try. “That’ll give me enough time to meditate a little, set up a hair appointment…”

“Nia, Nia, Nia, have we learned nothing?” He asked. “I will always do the exact opposite of what you ask me to if I do not think it’s good for you.” She groaned. “Besides, you're already showered and dressed.”

She bit her lip. “I always could shower again.”

He wasn’t falling for it. “ _Nia_.”

“Pietro.”

He held her shoulders, forcing her to look him in the eyes and actually hear what he had to say. “You are coming to work” He told her. “You need to go outside and get your beautiful face in the sunshine again, okay? If you’re still worried about being attacked again, you can stay with me and Wanda at the facility. Deal?”

She nodded. “Do you have snacks at your place?” She asked. “I like to eat, man. Can’t live without snacks.”

“Of course!”

“Is it all healthy?”

“Of course not!”

“My love for you grows stronger every second.” She kissed him on the cheek and grabbed her bag. “By the way, have you seen my phone?”

“No, did you have it last night?”

She shrugged. “To be honest I haven’t looked at it since I went off the grid. For a robotics girl I’m not all that tech dependent.”

“You can use mine unless you find it before we leave.”

She put her hand over her heart. “Can you stop being cute and considerate for five seconds you sick, sick bastard? I can only take so much. I’ll look for it when I grab some stuff I need to stay with you at the facility.”

* * *

Tony was busy in the lab mapping out ways to equip the facility with Nu-JARVIS. He had classic rock blasting from the speakers letting everyone know not to bother him, not that it kept people away. He wasn’t quite in the mood for the footsteps that he heard behind him.

“I don’t know if you knew this but I’m working.” He told whoever was standing behind him. “Meaning, I don’t have time to talk unless the sky is falling.”

The person laughed and he paused, recognizing it from hours spent being an asshole with her in the lab. “I think you’d know if the sky is falling, why the fuck would anyone need to tell you?” He turned around and grinned at his favorite blue-haired intern, happy to see her grinning back. “God, old man, I leave you for a little over a week and you lose common sense?”

He shrugged, completely containing how excited he was to see her. “Well, studies have shown that people with high IQs tend to do that.”

“High IQs or low confidence levels.” Nia sat next to him and punched his arm. “That’s for not keeping Sonic the Hedgehog away from my apartment long enough for me to get my head straight.”

He hissed, that was far more painful than he’d expected it to be. “What was I supposed to do?”

“Tell him to stay at the facility or something.”

“Welcome to the world of best friends who care deeply for your well-being. Speaking of which, you say hi to Rhodey?”

She nodded and pushed her hair behind her ear, focusing on Nu-JARVIS now. It was her first time seeing it in person, and it was humbling to say the least. “He was the first face I saw when I came in.”

“Him and Sam were worried. Funny, they're like your older brothers.”

“Tony, there’s only three Black people that regularly come into this facility and interact with each other. Sometimes we text each other about the stupid shit every other member of this team does.”

“Wow...” He sighed. “Y’know, I don’t completely get it…”

Nia ran her hands over her face and groaned. “ _White people_ … Jesus Christ. Have you got the facility hooked up yet? Please tell me you do and I just haven't noticed.”

He shook his head. “Can’t quite figure how to do that without risking the technology going rogue and murdering people again.”

She rolled her eyes. “Dude, really?”

“Did you just call me ‘dude’?”

“Yeah! Dude, all you have to do is rearrange the code for sentience to keep it from going rogue, create an emergency override with a few back-ups just in case, have Nu-JARVIS hack into the facility’s computer system, run a few tests, and upgrade everyone’s cell phones and communicators. If the new S.H.I.E.L.D facility wants it too, we just start from step three and do it all over again. I think the secretary there is Sam’s cousin or something...” She told him. “Easy as fuck. I thought about it on the way here.”

He stared at her in complete shock. “I’m an idiot.”

“You said it, not me.” She pulled a bag of Doritos out of seemingly nowhere and stood at the other side with the notebook she’d left on her desk. “Let’s get to work.”

“Where’d the Dor-”

“I always have food.” She smiled. “If we’re gonna be co-workers, this is a thing you should know.”

* * *

After work, Pietro ran Nia back to her apartment to pack up stuff for the next few nights. She insisted she’d only need one night, but he asked her to pack for longer just in case. Ellie was just leaving.

“Oh hey stranger.” Ellie said cheerfully. “I was getting worried, how’ve you been?”

Nia shrugged, “I’ve been better. I’m staying at my boyfriend’s for a few nights, you mind holding down the fort?”

“I got you! Hey, my friend is DJ-ing at this club a few blocks away Saturday night, you wanna come? You could bring your boyfriend...”

“He’s not really into clubs. I know the one you’re talking about, sometimes I walk past it. I’ll go with you, it could be a girl’s night.”

“Cool, I’ll text you the details.”

“Oh, um, I lost my phone.”

“How?”

“No fucking clue.” She replied. “E-mail me, you have my address, right?”

“Yeah, I think you gave it to me when you got a tattoo.”

“Sweet, I’ll see you then, Ellie.”

“See you then…” Nia walked into her apartment. Ellie reached into her pocket, pulling out Nia’s “lost” cell phone. Something about her face dramatically changed, as if she’d removed a mask the very second Nia’s door shut. “It’ll be real fun…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sadistic laughter from behind the computer screen*


	18. Be The Serpent Under't

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh boy...

Nia had only been to a club once in her life and she didn’t really remember it, any of it. It was probably for the best. Either way she was going to one tonight. Luckily, this time she had a friend with her to keep her from getting too fucked up.

She had her hair in a ponytail and wore a pastel blue crop top with a matching hip hugging skirt. Wanda let her borrow her black lipstick, like the scarlet angel she was. Even if she ended up not having fun, she at least looked great. Well, Pietro said she looked great before she left the facility.

_I’m pretty sure this is how clubbers dress these days? Do they call themselves clubbers? Do I call myself a clubber? That can’t be a thing…  I’m not cool..._

She made her way back to the apartment and up to Ellie’s place. She knocked twice, then internally chastised herself for seeming way too excited. _You’re acting like you did the first time you went to Disney World with your parents and you found that place where all the Alice in Wonderland characters are having a tea party. Please find some chill._

“One second!” Ellie shouted.

“These walls are far too thin.”

“You’re telling me.” She popped out of her apartment looking like a total rockstar in a tight black dress with her short hair curled. “I know way more about your sex life than I should, honey. He’s definitely Sokovian, born and bred.”

“What does that even mean?”

Ellie smirked. “Sokovians have always had a bit of reputation for knowing their way around a bedroom.”

Nia blushed and covered her face. “Don’t fetishize my boyfriend!”

“Well I’m obviously not wrong, Nia. Not all stereotypes are unfounded.”

“But he’s so much more than that!”

She rolled her eyes. “Are we going to the club or are you gushing about your boy-toy?”

“Can I do both?” She asked. “I mean, I lost my phone so it’s not like I can call him up and gush about him in his ear for hours, otherwise I would.”

“That’s either adorable or entirely disgustingly over-the-top.”

“Someone sounds completely jealous.” Ellie took her hand and led her out into the night.

* * *

Once they were in the club, it didn’t take Nia very long at all to remember why she’d never been before. The music wasn’t really her style, drunk men made her very nervous, and the bartender was a show-off. Still, Ellie made it a little bit more tolerable, and she did get a bit of dancing in.

After almost an hour, they sat at the bar and caught their breath. Nia couldn’t remember the last time she danced like that, and that, much like the memory of her last night at a club, was probably for the best.

“You seem like a margarita person.” Ellie said. “I don’t know anything about the drinking habits of quirky science girls.”

“I’m into the hard stuff, but I can enjoy a margarita.”

Ellie gasped. “The ‘hard stuff’, huh? Sounds less like MIT and more like UPenn.”

Nia giggled. “I got into UPenn. The scholarship wasn’t good enough.” She fanned her face. “Are all clubs this hot?”

“Yeah, so many asses in here using up the oxygen, makes the room seem hotter.”

They ordered two margaritas and rolled their eyes as the bartender decided to, predictably, make it into a show. He was dancing and trying to get them as enthusiastic about this parlor trick as he was, but it sincerely was a fruitless task. Once he was done hamming it up, they took sips of their drinks and gave him a assuring thumbs up, laughing as he moved on to the women on the other side of the bar.

“That guy has a future in Vegas.” Nia joked. “Maybe not as a performer, or a bartender… Maybe an Elvis impersonator.”

Ellie laughed. “That’s too funny! He did have the flashiness going on there, didn’t he? Never seen a bartender so completely devoted to entertaining.”

Nia felt a tap on her shoulder. A very greasy white dude was leaning on the bar, smiling at her as if he’d already figured out what color her panties were. He cleared his throat and moved a little closer to her when she turned his way.

“Hey, brown sugar.” He said, speech slurring. “I couldn’t help but notice that you’re the sexiest thing in this club right now. Come dance with me?”

She shook her head. “I have a boyfriend, a very tall… athletic boyfriend.”

“He doesn’t have to know, baby girl.”

Nia scoffed. “I’m not interested.”

The man wouldn’t leave, like a bad rash. They never did.  “I can’t help that I suddenly have a taste for a little chocolate.”

“Her boyfriend isn’t here to break your nose but that doesn’t mean that I won’t.” Ellie warned him. “Move on.”

The guy left and Nia let out a sigh of relief. “Fuck…”

“That happen often?”

“Super fucking often.” She took a long sip of her drink. “Like, since middle school I’ve been followed around by grown men with nothing better to do. It was so fucking scary when I was younger but now I’m just… Numb to it.”

“No woman should be numb to that bullshit, that’s fucking disgusting.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

A few minutes passed and Ellie went to go dance. Nia didn’t feel so hot. Her head was starting to hurt and the music felt far away. She rubbed her eyes and pushed away her drink, hoping she wasn’t that drunk or that no one roofied her. The bartender took the drink away and she looked up to see that his face looked a little distorted, actually, her vision was just getting blurry. This is scary…

She stood up, holding onto the stool for balance. She had to get to Ellie somehow. She made her way into the crowd and a few guys tried dancing on her, she pushed them away the best she could, but her motor skills were not working in her favor. Ellie spotted her from across the room and rushed over.

“Nia?!” She shouted.

“Ell…”

“Nia!” She pulled the guys away. “Can’t you see she isn’t fucking feeling good?!” She brought her back over to the bar. “You wanna go home?”

Nia didn’t respond. Everything was shutting down, as if her body were forcing itself to sleep. “Help…”

“We’ll go back to my place and get you well again, okay?” She asked. “I have your bag.”

Nia couldn’t hear her. She couldn’t hear _anything_.

* * *

“Я не знаю, когда , чтобы убить ее ... Я не хочу , чтобы это сделать здесь, это первое место они будут выглядеть.”

“Мы не должны убить ее на всех! Вы хотите ее бойфренда и Мстители приходит и убивает всех нас?”

“Конечно нет! Но мне нужно больше времени , чтобы сделать это выглядело как несчастный случай . Это не будет легко ... Я не хочу , чтобы она страдала…”

“Она на самом деле не ваш друг , вы глупая девчонка!”

“Я знаю! Но мы не можем иметь каких-либо признаков , что она была убита.” There was a knock on the door. "Ellie" rubbed her temples and tried to shake herself out of this, like it was a nightmare she could wake up from. “FUCK!”

“What is all this noise?!” Mr. Green asked. “It’s bad enough your little neighbor and her boyfriend have been mating like rabbits! Answer this door, Ellie! Don’t make me call the landlord!”

One of the men in the back attached a silencer to his rifle and gave “Ellie” the sign to open the door. She smirked. “Sorry, Mr. Green.” She opened the door and let him in.

He looked around and his eyes widened with shock. The sound of the door locking behind him made the blood drain from his face, but it was _who_ he saw tied to a chair in the living room that really hit him. “Ellie… What on _earth_ have you been doing in here?”

“You never were a good neighbor, Mr. Green.” She told him, stepping away from him and taking the rifle. “You should’ve learned to mind your fucking business while you still had the chance.”

“No… NO, PLEASE!”

In a flash, the room was eerily silent. Everyone looked at each other as tensions died down. “Ellie” ran her fingers through her hair and tried to come up with solutions. “Don’t be here when she wakes. I can handle her myself without a problem, just get the fucking tech.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> translations:  
> Я не знаю, когда , чтобы убить ее ... Я не хочу , чтобы это сделать здесь, это первое место они будут выглядеть - I don't know when to kill her... I don't want to do it here, it's the first place they'll look.  
> Мы не должны убить ее на всех! Вы хотите ее бойфренда и Мстители приходит и убивает всех нас- We musn't kill her at all! You want her boyfriend and The Avengers to come and kill us all?  
> Конечно нет! Но мне нужно больше времени , чтобы сделать это выглядело как несчастный случай . Это не будет легко ... Я не хочу , чтобы она страдала… - Of course not! But I need more time to make it look like an accident. It won't be easy... I don't want her to suffer.  
> Она на самом деле не ваш друг , вы глупая девчонка! - It's not really your friend, silly girl!  
> Я знаю! Но мы не можем иметь каких-либо признаков , что она была убита. - I know! But we can;t have any signs that she was murdered.


	19. Not Really Your Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have nothing to say except I'm sorry????? Maybe???

Nia woke up to a splitting headache. She was pleased to have regained agency over her own body, but was less pleased to find that her arms and legs were bound with thick rope. Someone stripped her down to her underwear and she was gagged and bound like an animal. Calm was not an option.

She tried screaming, but there was a gag in her mouth. She looked around to find that she was in a dingy, low-lit apartment. The windows were covered. The furniture was covered in tarps as if the place hadn't been moved into. There was a board to her right covered in pictures of her and Tony with notes about plans to kidnap and attack them, and theories about their project. To her left was a trash bag, clearly not containing something pleasant. Did she even want to know?

She heard someone walk behind her and her heart raced. “You awake yet, sunshine?”

_That voice…_ Nia knew who it was in a second, but she didn't want to believe it. The thought of her new best friend hurting her was breaking her heart. Then, “Ellie” walked in front of her, smiling and pulling up a chair. Nia tried to ignore the knife she had holstered to her leg in an effort to remain calm.

“This is all confusing to you, it has to be.” She said. “No easy way to say this, I guess, but I'm not really your friend. But I’m sure you’ve heard that before, right?” She ungagged her, surprised by her silence but not by her tears. “Oh, honey, please get yourself together. Your makeup is running, you don’t want the police to find you like that, do you?”

“Why the fuck am I here?”

“Ellie” gasped. “Someone’s got bite! I thought you were soft.”

“Why the fuck am I here, _Ellie_?”

“The real name’s Elena.” She told her. “Elena Volkov. I'm Russian, not Estonian, and I’m a professional killer for a group of people who want your project very much.” She took her knife out and ran it across Nia’s throat, not applying enough pressure to cut, but more than enough to intimidate. “You’ve been smart, bluebird. Keeping your notes at the facility, cutting off communication. We were lost for a while. Then you and your Sokovian sex toy forgot to lock the door. So we got your phone while you were fucking each other. It seems low, I know, but you’ll get over it once you start bleeding out.”

“You thought I'd give you information now? You thought I'd sell out my project?”

Elena shook her head. “I _know_ you will.” She stood up and walked over to the garbage bag and revealed Mr. Green’s corpse with a bullet hole in the center of his head. Nia made a distressed noise and tried to think of escapes, but there wasn’t anything around that didn’t require Elena to leave for more than ten minutes. This was all so seemingly well-calculated... “I'm not fucking around here, Nia. I'm really going to hurt you if you make me.”

“What did he have to do with anything?” Nia asked. “He was an old man!”

She sighed. “Witnesses have to die, Nia. That’s just how the world works.”

She stared at Mr. Green for a moment. Trying to use her head and not go straight into a panic. She wasn’t cool under pressure like her co-workers, she wasn’t physically strong like them, so she had to rely on her brain. “What happens if I don’t ‘make you’ hurt me?”

“You’ll have a clean, quiet death. I’ll tell Pietro you got alcohol poisoning and he’ll move on to a girl he could actually be interested in for more than a warm place to put his dick.”

Scared as she was, she wasn’t going to let that one go without a response. How dare she? “God, are you Hydra? Sam said you people make terrible speeches. I’m surprised you haven’t gone into detail about how you have a boner for pain.”

“I used to be Hydra. But Hydra was such a hive mind, no individualism. My people are pirates, born and bred. We steal from the giants to make bigger giants, all while using our own skills.”

Nia raised an eyebrow. “Are you planning on bringing Ultron back? What do you expect to do after all this?”

Elena laughed. “Fuck no, we’re making something bigger than Ultron. A parasite so insidious, your Avengers won't be able to stop the suffering and the bloodshed. The world will be our subjects. It's a shame you won't live to see that. I had hoped we could at least keep you alive long enough to see everything fall apart. Oh well, maybe we'll go after your boyfriend and his sister first so that you aren't lonely when you watch the world burn from wherever you go.”

“Do _not_ touch The Maximoffs.” She warned her. “You touch one, the other will have you dead or out of your fucking mind within seconds. So, pro-tip, don’t touch The Maximoffs.”

“What about you? What if I killed you? What would they do then?” Elena asked. “What if I were to…” She paused and shoved the knife into Nia’s shoulder, covering her mouth to prevent screaming. “You think they’d kill me for that?”

Nia bit her hand, drawing a stream of blood that ended up dripping down her chin. “No offense, but I kinda wanna kill you for that.”

Elena stood up and shook the blood off of her hand. “Fuck you, ugly whore!”

“Where are the other’s now, huh?” Nia asked. “Running amok?”

“They should be at your facility right now.”

Nia started to laugh. She started to laugh despite the pain in her shoulder, and heartbreak of this completely unforeseen betrayal. It was on this day, in this hilarious moment, that she knew the universe was looking out for her. Elena scowled.

“What the fuck is so funny?”

She stopped laughing and leaned forward. “You fucked up.”

Elena scoffed, circling around her like a cat teasing a mouse. “In what way?”

“It’s game night.” Nia told her. “Most of the Avengers, old and new, are at the facility tonight, drinking beers and reminiscing. Since they’re at the facility they have their full arsenal with them. They do it every few months, so I’ve been told. I actually skipped it to go out with you. I thought I was dumb for that, but now I’m starting to think I’m not actually the idiot in this situation after all. It’s the girl who forgot to fact check.”

She shook her head. “You’re bluffing.”

“I’m not a good liar, ask my boyfriend. Which you might be able to since, if your men got caught, he should be on his way here.”

Elena shook her head and called one of her men up. Nia watched her expression as she tried holding it together. “Are you there?” There was a pause. “You’re leaving the facility and you have the notebook, good, but where are the others?!” Her eyes widened. “CAPTURED?! FUCK!”

_He has the notebook but left without his crew? That’s rough…_ “Fuck, indeed.”

“SHUT THE HELL UP!” Elena said. “PLEASE TELL ME THE AVENGERS AREN’T ON THEIR WAY HERE, YOU IMBECILES!” Her grip on the phone tightened so much that Nia thought she’d break it. “We were so close, so damn close and then… FUCK! Vitaly assured me the facility was closed by this time.”

Nia rolled her eyes. “He was correct. The problem is that he probably used the word ‘always’, that’s a no-no.”

“SHUT UP!” Elena pulled out her knife again. “You’ll be dying by the time they get here, you insignificant little piece of trash.”

She slashed at Nia's throat, aiming for her jugular vein but missing when Nia tried moving out of the way. She left a deep cut in her collarbone. Nia kicked her away and tried to focus on something besides the blood streaming down her chest. However she _was_ still tied up, so there wasn't much to think about.

Elena lunged for her again so she used her bound legs to keep her at bay. Elena sliced into her leg and stuck the bloody knife into her chest as Nia reflexively pulled her legs back, ripping it out with a smile on her face. Nia knew she hadn’t gone in far enough to hit something vital, it was just so frighteningly close to her heart, and was still bleeding profusely. She’d bled so much at this point that she was getting disoriented, and the pain was the only thing keeping her from fainting.

Seconds later, Pietro burst through the door, delivering a satisfying punch to Elena’s face, and buying them a little time. He untied Nia and tried to stop the bleeding with his hands but it wasn’t enough.

“No, no, Nia, you can not leave me this way. Not now...” He said. “More help is on the way, just stay with me, okay?”

He ran to Nia’s apartment and grabbed a towel and ran it under hot water. His hands were shaking, but he had to be calm for her. He ran back to Nia and pressed the towels to the wound on her chest, which required the most attention. The bleeding was ridiculous, drenching the towels almost instantly. Turning the white to crimson.

Nia’s eyes were fluttering shut. She was getting paler, losing energy to even sit up straight. Pietro cradled her by the back of her head, trying to keep her alert. “Stay awake, Nia, stay awake.” He whispered. “Please, I love you.” He tenderly ran his hands over her face. He saw her grin, and that was more than enough to know he could save her.

“How did I know… You’d be… The first asshole in here?” She whispered.

He smiled. “You didn’t think I would let Sam get here first, did you?”

Elena regained consciousness, shaking her head and rubbing her aching jaw. She stayed silent and crawled over to her knife. Nia saw her out of the corner of her eye, but she had no energy left to warn Pietro beyond a very strained groan.

Elena crept up behind him with the knife, ready to slash his throat, when Sam burst through the doorway. He tackled her to the ground and kicked away her knife. She tried fighting him off when he pinned her arms behind her back and looked up at Nia, who was fading fast. Once he had Elena detained, he ran to help, suppressing the wound on Nia's shoulder

"You gotta get her to hospital, man, there's one ten blocks away!" He told Pietro.

Wanda and Rhodey ran in behind him and scanned the area for evidence to use later. “This is her neighbor?” He asked. “Shit… She just told me all about her, how nervous she was to be going out with her tonight..."

Pietro pulled Nia into his arms. Elena laughed. “You think you can save her, honey?” She asked. He glared at her, wanting so badly to make her feel everything she’d done to his girl. Nia didn’t deserve this, she didn’t ask to be a part of this world. “She's bleeding out, time’s ticking away…” Pietro ignored her and sped away to the hospital.

Wanda crouched down to Elena’s level, forcing her to make eye contact. “You think _you_ are scary?” She warped her mind with a wave of her hand, making her see the unimaginable tortures of her childhood in Russia. Her eyes widened with fear and she froze on the ground. “Don't fuck with family.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry???


	20. My Internal Monologue is Saturated Analog

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the title comes from a line in the song 'pedestrian at best' about overthinking, which both nia and i are currently doing.  
> yeah tony's a bit of a narcissistic asshole in this chapter, but that's okay because he's a bit of a narcissistic asshole in general. his default setting is 'i' statements  
> his heart's in a good place tho

Pietro couldn’t stand to be in the hospital room for very long. It wasn’t like Nia was sleeping soundly next to him. She was sleeping in hospital bed with machines hooked up to her after almost bleeding to death. The doctors told him she’d be gone had he come a second later, and that was a heavy weight to carry.

He was happy that Wanda stayed with him, the other Avengers came by to check in and give updates on Elena’s legal status. They left get well cards and balloons. Wanda put a sweet thought in Nia’s head to have her resting peacefully.

Tony came by after two days, surprisingly not bearing gifts and surprisingly solemn. Pietro was resting on the floor outside of the room, wrapped in a blanket a nurse had offered him. Tony walked past him and reached out for the doorknob, but something was pulling him away. He looked at Pietro, who acknowledged him with a small nod, nothing more.

“Is she awake?” Tony asked. Pietro shook his head. He sighed. “How bad was the bleeding?”

Pietro vacantly stared at the wall in front of him. “The smell is still on my hands and my arms.” He told him. “She almost died in my arms.”

Tony nodded. “Sorry… I feel responsible.”

“Why?”

“I’m the idiot who asked her to work on the project. If I’d just let her be a regular intern she’d be fine.”

Pietro rolled his eyes. “You can not possibly be making this about you right now.”

“It’s my fault, Pietro.”

Pietro stood up, meeting him at eye level. The love of his life almost died and Tony Stark was still focusing on how he’d fit into the equation. Unbelievable.

“The only person at fault in this is Elena Volkov, the girl who hurt her. Not me, not Nia, not you. Nia knew she was at a risk, Stark, this was a part of her job. She loved her job too much to quit, and for that she is one of the bravest women I know. So, excuse me for not feeling your bullshit self-pity, but you have nothing to do with this.” Tony looked away and Pietro returned back to his spot on the floor. “Go in and see her, she will be happy knowing that you care.”

Tony walked in the room and sat at Nia’s bedside. Sam and Rhodey were sitting on the other side. The tv was playing one of the Hobbit movies, they’d hoped she’d see that when she woke up.

“Is she healing alright?” Tony whispered.

“Yeah, the wound closest to her heart could cause problems, so they’re monitoring that for now.” Rhodey told him. “I think she’ll be fine. She kicks ass.”

“Yeah, I know. I just wish she knew.”

“Wanna hear something fucked up?” Sam asked. Clearly holding in his feelings for a while. “S.H.I.E.L.D called her parents because they’re required to if there’s a chance she might die. They asked them if they wanted to see their only child in the hospital and her parents said ‘she's not our daughter anymore’. What the fuck is that about?”

Tony sighed. “Her parents are probably still angry she isn’t a doctor and won't talk to them because they ruined her childhood and cut her off in college. Been there.”

“It’s fucked up.” Sam shook his head. “If I ever met them…”

“I can’t believe you hired possibly the sweetest kid on the planet to work for us.” Rhodey told Tony. “I also can’t believe someone used her like this.”

“She’ll get used to it, build a thick skin, we all do.” Tony said.

Rhodey sighed and stood up. “She’s not like you, Tony..."

* * *

The room was silent for an hour, with the only noise coming from the television and nurses occasionally checking in. Pietro sat outside, falling asleep. Visiting hours were going to be over soon but he didn’t feel entirely ready to leave, he never did. Tony and Rhodey left leaving him and Sam. He couldn’t stand the silence anymore so he actually went into the room for once.

Sam grinned at him. “How you holdin’ up?”

“I am not holding up.” He leaned over Nia’s head and kissed her. “The only person I want to talk about this with is _her_.”

“She’ll wake up soon, her body is just repairing itself.”

He let out a dry laugh. “It continues to escape me that she is not a superhuman who heals rapidly… She is normal and… far more _mortal_ than I am.”

“She’s a superhuman in her own right, man. I think that’s what makes you two special.” He told him. “You’re ‘enhanced’ and she’s grounded in reality.”

“Yes, this is all very real to me.” Tears started falling down his face, now he remembered why he didn’t want to go into the room. He didn’t want Sam to see him cry, he didn’t really want anyone to. He was supposed to be strong, for himself and his sister. He was just stressed out, this was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Sam passed him the tissues. “I’m sorry for forgetting how young you are. Is she your first love?”

He shook his head. “But she’s my greatest. I have never felt this way for someone else. ”

“I know what loss feels like, Pietro, and I know you do, too. But Nia is not lost, and when she wakes up, she’ll tell you just how much she loves you. Everything works out.”

“You did lose someone... It was your friend, right? Riley?”

Sam nodded. “But I ended up finding Steve… Well, Steve found me. He didn’t replace Riley, but it feels damn good to have a best friend again.”

“I understand. When I am in a room with both Nia and Wanda I feel as if our family is back somehow.” He admitted. “My parents would’ve loved her to death. She is everything they wanted for me, and everything I want for myself.”

He smiled. “I’d say that found families are real families.” He told him. “I have my biological family at home, but I also have my Avengers family. You have your biological family, your Avengers family, and whatever kind of family you’re building now. Nia barely has a biological family that gives a rat's ass, but she has us and she has you. So, your family _is_ back, it's just evolved."

“That is very smart.” Pietro grinned. "And very comforting."

“Yeah, and I’d probably make a damn good therapist if I didn’t have a life and problems of my own.” For the first time in a few days, Pietro genuinely laughed.

* * *

The next day, Pietro came to the hospital with Wanda. He stood outside the room while she went in to check on Nia. He almost jumped out of his skin when he heard his sister gasp loudly.

“Pietro! Come in!” She shouted.

He ran in and saw Nia sitting upright, reading through the ‘Get Well’ cards. She couldn't help but smile at them, despite the pain. “Well, obviously I’m not moving, so you’ll have to come over to me for hugs.”

Pietro could not have been more elated. Wanda pushed him forward and he pulled Nia into his arms before she hissed from the pain in her shoulder. “Oh, forgive me, my love.”

“It only hurts a little.” She sighed and ran her hands across his face. “I love you.”

“I love you.” He kissed her.

Wanda was staying out of their way when Nia called her over for a hug. “You are not exempt, Wanda. Not for a second.” Wanda walked over and held her tight. “How’s everyone else?”

“They are worried for you, but otherwise fine.” Wanda replied. “Are you alright?”

“How long have you been awake?” Pietro asked.

Nia sighed. “A few hours. The nurses said I should be free to go in a few days, they’re monitoring me or something. I guess I should be used to that by now…”

Pietro shook his head and sat in a space next to her on the bed. “Elena was crazy and trying to use you, that is completely different.”

“Yeah but you know my mind doesn’t care... I keep feeling like I should’ve known.” Nia admitted. “No one is that eager to spend time with me at first. She kept asking me all this personal shit and I told her things that I’ve only ever told you, she was just profiling me. It’s bullshit.”

“Nia, it was not your fault.” Wanda insisted.

“Sure it is. I was too easy to prod.” She said. “God fucking damnit, am I really that desperate for friends? How did I let it all go this far?”

“Nia, you did not know. Stop blaming yourself. You did nothing wrong. She did this to you.”

“Well, I didn’t exactly make it hard for her, did I?”

Tony came in and smiled. “Welcome back to earth, kid.”

She was pulled out of her thoughts for a moment. “Tony? You’re visiting me?”

“Someone has to.” He replied jokingly. “Your buddy here has been here the whole time, I think that deserves some recognition.” Pietro was surprised but appreciative of that comment. “You don’t have to come back to work right away, take as much time as you need to recover.”

Nia shook her head. “I think I should come to work immediately.”

“After all that has happened? No way!” Pietro told her.

“Oh come on, it’s not like I have much of a life outside of work. Something about living across from that apartment feels tainted. I used to look forward to seeing that door open everyday and see Ell- _Elena_ walk through. Just the thought of Mr. Green...” She took a deep breath. “He didn't deserve to go out like that. I keep seeing him in the back of my mind.”

“You can’t let her get to you like this, Nia.” Tony told her. “She is not in control. Live a full life just to spite-”

“I’m not like you, Tony!” Nia argued. “I’ve never felt so vulnerable! I feel like Elena exposed my heart for the world to see. I feel like I’m the one who got Mr. Green killed! I’m so fucking angry! More angry at myself than at her. I can’t live a ‘full life’ after this, not yet. Unless I can miraculously repair all the damage that’s been done, she’s won this, not me. She used me and she got what she wanted. Now I have to live with that.”

Tony was honestly speechless. He’d seen himself in Nia's intellect before, but never thought he’d see himself in her self-loathing. It was almost torturous to watch. “People are assholes.” He said. “You know that, you work for me.”

She leaned on Pietro’s shoulder. “I don't think you're an asshole.”

He crossed his arms and leaned on the wall. “That's your fatal flaw. The point I’m trying to make is that you're always gonna run into assholes trying to use you for something, but that's because you're _fucking special_. You're a genius! The ‘billionaire, playboy, philanthropist’ part will come but you have to punch a few faces and get stabbed a few times before that. Alright? It’s growing pains, all of us went through it.”

“He is right.” Pietro admitted. Both Tony and Nia responded with a shocked expression. “What? You are.”

“You can stay with us if the apartment is messing with your head.” Wanda suggested. “Your place at the facility is almost finished so we will move your stuff there once it is done, and you’ll not have to go back anymore.”

Pietro nodded. “We have the space for you.”

“That should work, I’ll be fine there.” She told them. She turned back to Tony, eyes pleading with him to understand where she’s coming from. “And I think I’ll be even better working, Tony. Just to take my mind off of things for a few hours a day.”

He respected her wishes, because he respected her. “Do what you want.”

She nodded, giving him a small grin to re-assure him. “I will.”

 


	21. One Bridge Left To Burn In The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is brought to you by my mom who went off at the financial aid office of my school the other day and made them fix their mistakes just in time for me to register for the class i wanted most  
> she's literally steve rogers and i love her

Nia found herself standing in a S.H.I.E.L.D hallway with Pietro, she was bandaged up and healing. It had been three days since her release from the hospital and she spent a lot of time with The Maximoffs and working in the lab. The lab work was a great distraction, but the time spent with the Maximoffs was healing her. She was still holding a lot of her feelings in, but she never felt pressure to be strong around them. A lot was weighing on her mind and her heart since the attack, luckily there was a whole group of people ready to help her carry it, and Pietro was willing to carry it all.

She'd thought she'd moved past it, at least a little... Until now.

The agency asked her to interrogate Elena because she was adamantly refusing to speak to anyone else. She was even refusing to eat. As it turns out, Wanda’s magic made her extremely paranoid for a few days. Then she “came to her senses” and threatened to murder a guard if she didn't have a face to face talk with Nia, which is a weird request.

Pietro wasn’t sure this was what she needed right now, the situation was still fresh in her mind. “You don’t have to do this, you owe S.H.I.E.L.D nothing.” He reminded her. “It is all up to you.”

Nia shook her head, taking deep breaths and preparing herself. “They need her to speak, and all she’s been doing is asking for me and hurting more people, so I have to go in there, Pietro.” She told him.

“Are you sure? It has only been days.”

“Yeah. It’s part of my growing pains, right?”

He grinned. “I am proud of you, my love.” He looked around to see if anyone was coming before giving her a kiss. “I will be with you, watching the whole time.”

“I know. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

He sped off to the observation room and Nia took a deep breath. _You can do this_. She made her way to the interrogation room, an agent quickly searched her and let her go in.

There was something immensely gratifying about seeing Elena in a prison jumpsuit, about seeing her hair greasy and unwashed, and her face devoid of make-up. She obviously hadn’t slept since her arrest. She wasn’t as powerful as Nia thought she was on the outside. Here, she was as small as she believed Nia to be.

Nia sat in front of her and sighed, keeping her guard up and ready. “What do you want?”

“I want to talk to you.” She replied. Her bloodshot eyes locked on to Nia's. “I feel like we left things off on the wrong foot.”

“You stabbed me three times almost killing me, shot my neighbor, and tried to kill my best friend when he came to save me.”

Elena giggled. “That’s what I mean!”

“Okay, so, talk. I have better things to do than be here right now.”

“Well, first off, I’m not sorry.” She told her. “In fact, if I had a chance to do it all over, I’d do it even better and shoot you like I shot Mr. Green.” She had her fingers in the shape of a gun and shot an invisible bullet between her eyes.

Nia wasn’t phased. “That it?”

“No, I also wanted to clear the air on a few things.”

“Like what?”

“You remember when I got ‘mugged’?”

Nia rolled her eyes. “How could I forget?”

“There was no mugger. I made it up. The police and firemen were also with my organization and the officer that checked your texts implanted a bug on the back of your phone so that we could listen to all of your conversations from our other hideout in Queens.”

“Creepy, but whatever.”

“I’ve snuck into your apartment multiple times searching for your notebook.”

“Okay.”

She smiled. “But the best secrets I have are the ones you shared with me willingly.” Nia scowled and stood up to leave. “Remember, when you got that tattoo, how you told me about how heavily you drank in high school and college because you were depressed?” She froze in her tracks. “Remember how you resented your parents so much that you wanted to change your last name?... What about more recent history, Nia?”

Nia faced her. “Why are you doing this now? Why now?”

Elena leaned in and smiled even wider. “I’m in prison, Nia. You put me here. Now I have nothing to fucking lose.”

“You could get more time.” Nia said, trying to be brave as she’d decided to be. “You’re stalling a federal investigation.”

“I don’t care. Just like I don’t care about the world knowing just how friendly you’ve gotten with your coworkers. Do they know all that shit about you? Does your boss, Tony Stark, know all that shit about you? No, you wouldn’t tell him, you like him but you aren’t sure you can trust him. Who else would know?... You love Sam and Rhodey dearly, talking about them and to them like they’re your big brothers, but even they don’t know that much about you. Sure, they know about your parents, but what about other dirty laundry? Does Natasha know about your parents? What about Steve? Vision’s a living computer but he doesn’t know about your emotions, or your self-doubt. I wonder who does…”

Nia shook her head, heart beating out of her chest. Pietro looked on from the other side of the wall nervously. He was standing next to Steve and Fury, and things were about to get very, very awkward. “Please don’t…”

“I wonder who knows your secrets. I bet he even knows your little nervous ticks. Shit, he knows when you wake up.” Elena stood up, restricted by cuffs chained to the table. “Do you get flustered at work knowing your lover is minutes, even _seconds_ , away? Do you find yourself distracted by thoughts of him touching you, whispering ‘I love you’ while you play filthy Romeo and Juliet against your boss’s rules?”

_Don’t react, don’t react, don’t react. She’s trying to pull it out of you. She’s playing you, don’t react. You can do this. She isn’t really going to out you. This is posturing._

“You’ve been counting the days, haven’t you? Until your internship ends?” Elena asked. “What were you two planning to do that day, huh? Rip each other’s clothes off in the middle of Times Square? Invite Tony or Wanda to join?” Nia seemingly stopped paying attention and Elena raised her voice. “That’s all you really are to him, you know? A good, tight fuck. An easy target. God, do you even know how to give a blowjob? You’re a child, you’re a-”

“Did you say you had another hideout in Queens?” Nia asked her.

Elena shrunk down, smiled fading from her face as if on cue. “Huh?”

“You said you listened to me from your other hideout in Queens through the bug on my phone.” She told her. “You just fucking said that like no less than five minutes ago. You may have forgotten while you were delivering this whole Shakespearean monologue about basically nothing.”

There was a moment of silence, while Elena collected her thoughts. She was in control again for a moment, and then Nia seized it back. It felt strange. “You have nothing.”

Nia smiled and started walking to the door. “No, I have something. You just gave me a serious something. Give me an address and we might let you get a different colored jumpsuit. I recall you wearing a lot of floral when you were masquerading as a decent human being.”

Elena was, frankly, shocked. She'd been interrogated dozens of times in Russia, but never let anything slip like that. “S-So, what? You think you’re a real fucking agent now?” She asked. “You think you’ve outsmarted me?”

“Nah, I’m just a good listener.”

Elena knew how to regain control. She wasn't going down without a good, petty fight. Just as Nia reached for the door handle, she shouted, “I’m sure Pietro agrees!”

_Shit…_ Nia turned and glared at her. Her heart stopped beating, it virtually stopped beating. She didn’t want to look back at the window, out of fear that would incriminate her further, so the only place to look was at Elena. She was a captive audience.

“Oh come on, Nia!” She said. “You should be bragging! I mean, there’s no logical reason for Quicksilver to be going deep dick in a girl like you unless you have some kind of secret talent, right? A quiet, awkward Black scientist who likes fucking Lord of the Rings? You’re a stereotypical loser from a high school movie, not a grown, fuckable woman. Y’know for a while, I was considering seducing him to break you, it couldn’t have been too hard. I know my way around a Sokovian.”

Nia took a deep breath and tried to be rational, but it wasn’t working. She felt so stupid letting Elena make her cry again, and she was tired of being sensitive. She was tired of being vulnerable around this person that didn’t care about her and got joy from causing her pain and using her. Now, she was angry, and she was going to do something about it. “If you’re gonna get me fired, I’d prefer it be because I knocked your teeth out...” Nia said, her quiet voice shaking.

Elena chuckled. “ _You_? Hit me? I don’t think you have the b-”

Nia threw a hard punch to Elena’s face and shook her hand out. “You’re pure evil!” She hissed. “What did you do?! Did you and your bullshit agency of Hydra knock-offs wait for Tony to hire someone like me? Someone who’s never had real friends before?! You targeted me, and you used me, and now you want to ruin my life. Fuck you! I should do more than punch you!”

“You were an easy case.” Elena snarled, hand covering her face. “A pathetic waste of my time. No wonder you never had friends, you naive bitch! You should’ve kept your whore Mutant sister-in-law out of my head!”

The agent at the door ran in and pulled Nia out. Still, she didn’t care about anything but seeing Pietro. She didn’t even care if it exposed their relationship, she needed him. She needed him to tell her it would all be alright. “Pietro!” 

He ran out to her and she ran into his arms. He rubbed her back, whispering comforting words in her ear. “Do not let this girl get to you.” He held her face and wiped the tears away with his thumbs. “What do you need?”

The guards led Elena out. She smirked at Nia as she walked by, nose bleeding. “Happy fucking, you two! I guarantee this isn't the last we’ll see each other!”

“Please get me out of here.” Nia begged him. Pietro nodded and picked her up, carrying her all the way home.

 


	22. Sometimes Things Just Work Out, Ya Know?

On her first day at work after punching Elena, Nia was nervous about what Tony would say. He had to have heard about what happened. That meant he didn’t just know about the punch, he knew about whatever everyone else there saw with her and Pietro, which were two reasons for her to be immediately fired. Still, she had to go, he hadn’t told her not to come into the lab.

She made her way to the lab with her heart racing, her music blasting in her ears. Since she’d been staying there with Pietro and Wanda, all she had the mental energy to put on her body was a pair of sweatpants and whichever t-shirt she'd managed to pull from her drawer. Her hair was up in a messy bun. The nervousness was causing her hands to shake.

Tony was busy integrating Nu-JARVIS into the grid, when the elevator dropped Nia off behind him. “Sir, Miss. Miller has arrived.” JARVIS said.

He made a cheery noise. “Good, I wanted to talk to her.”

“Fuck…” she said, not even caring that she'd said it out loud. She was pretty sure her grave had already been dug.

He chuckled. “So you know what I wanted to talk to you about then.” He turned around and had her sit down in front of him. She took a deep breath, then a few more. Once she'd almost reached hyperventilation, she realized that he could probably hear it. That's not what she wanted her last moments with Tony to be like. He was an asshole, but he'd done quite a bit for her, she wanted to leave with that as her memory. “Steve told me what happened in the interrogation.” 

“Yeah?” The nervousness was killing her, and she was really hoping he'd drop the pomp and circumstance, basically all the Tony flair.

“You have fucking balls, kid!” He told her, proudly. “I heard you broke the girl’s nose!”

She raised an eyebrow. “Yeah…”

“Awesome, I’m proud of you!” He turned back around and she was confused. “Hiring you: Top ten best decisions I’ve ever made. I'm taking all the credit for it. I wanna have you over for dinner at some point so Pepper can meet you.” He gasped. “No, you should meet Thor and Jane Foster!”

_JANE FUCKING FOSTER?! Focus, Nia…_ “Wait, was that it?”

“Not quite, Steve and Natasha wanted to see you in a few hours. Not sure what that's about, but if they like you more than they like me they'll at least give you something to eat.”

_He doesn’t fucking know about Pietro and I yet… Holy shit…_ “Oh, um, okay… How far is the integration?”

“Almost the entire building’s computers have been overridden with Nu-JARVIS successfully, we’re at about eighty-five percent.” He grinned. “It’ll go faster if you’re helping me.”

She smiled. “Well, I’m not here just to look nice.”

“Of course not, that's my job.”

* * *

They spent the next few hours hooking everything up from the computers to the elevators. Once they were done, Tony pulled out beers and they sat on the floor of the hallway outside of the very last alarm they needed to connect. Wanda walked by with Vision and Nia winked at her.

“What’s happening there?” Tony asked her.

She sighed happily. “Something they both deserve.”

“Never saw that coming. I wonder what else I’m missing… Let’s see, Clint’s family, those two, the collapse of S.H.I.E.L.D…” He turned to her. “You don’t have superpowers, do you?”

Nia laughed. “You’d know, Tony. You would so know.”

“I could always _give you_ superpowers.” He suggested.

“Please don’t. I’ve seen enough of y’all’s world for a lifetime.”

“I swear I’ve missed something about you, something important.”

She shrugged and took a sip of her beer. “Maybe.”

“You’re seeing someone, aren’t you?”

She smiled, it was a reflex. “I dunno.”

“A guy from the neighborhood?”

"You got me!" She sighed and turned to him. “Yup. He used to run past my apartment everyday. One day he bumped into me, and I guess you could say we just connected. He’s really nice.”

Tony nodded and Nia almost couldn’t believe he actually believed that. “Sounds nice. You’ll have to bring him over sometime so that I can intimidate him properly.”

“Whatever, Tony, you’ll see him soon. Maybe sooner than you think.”

Wanda came running back and grabbed Nia’s hand. “Steve and Natasha want you right now!” She had a huge smile on her face. “You too, Stark, come on!” Nia got up and went with her, Tony followed closely behind.

They went down to the lab, and all the Avengers were there, smiling and waiting for her. Sam had a bouquet of flowers in his arms, and Pietro was so excited that he was bouncing on his heels like he had the night of their first date.

“Welcome to the team, Agent Miller.” Steve said, he handed her the official id. She’d frozen in her tracks, hands shaking as she took it. “You are officially an Avengers scientist.”

“And officially not Tony’s to bother anymore.” Rhodey added under his breath.

She looked up at Steve and smiled, and he smiled back. “I’m really not being fired? For… What happened?”

He shook his head. “She deserved to get punched. Plus, you were technically an agent about two weeks ago. That was our mistake and we wanted to make it up to you.”

Helen stepped forward and tossed her a brand new Starkphone. “Sorry, it’s your work phone.”

Nia rolled her eyes at Tony. “Of course it’s my work phone. You couldn’t just buy me a second iPhone?”

Tony shook his head and laughed a little. “Uh, no.”

“We know working here so far has been… _stressful_.” Sam told her. “So we wanted to make sure you knew that we were all here for you, and we also want to throw you a party later tonight.”

She smiled, tears starting to stream down her face. “I hate crying, oh my God. I’ve been crying so much lately.”

“These are happy tears, right?” Natasha asked.

“Oh yeah!” She said. “The happiest I’ve ever felt.” Sam handed her the bouquet and she hugged him. “Thanks for keeping me sane and hydrated.”

“Of course.”

“Wait…” There was a feeling in her heart. She could see a gate finally opening for her to walk through. There was one huge final issue left for her to resolve now that she'd been sworn in. _Pietro..._  She looked over at Pietro, then back at Sam. He, knowingly, held her flowers, gently pushing her forward. “Tony, you were right when you said you were missing something very important about my life.” Pietro smirked in that way that made her heart flutter, she could tell he was ready for the secret to be out, too.

“I knew I was missing something!“ Tony said excitedly. “Are you, what, related to T’Challa? Are you the Devil of Hell’s Kit-”

She walked over to Pietro and he smiled down at her before lifting her up, wrapping her legs around his waist. He gave her a sweet little kiss on the nose before surprising almost everyone with a passionate kiss to the lips. Tony’s jaw dropped so low, it almost fell off his face.

Rhodey and Helen turned to Sam, Rhodey pointed at Nia and Pietro with a pleasantly surprised look on his face... “When the hell…”

“Like a month after she started working here.”

Helen smiled. “Wow. They’re good.”

She pulled away and Pietro let her down, pushing loose strands of hair from her face. “I'm sorry, I know you would want to actually tell them with words.”

“Heat of the moment, I guess, I can excuse it.” She told him. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” He kissed her again.

After a few seconds her eyes widened and she looked around at everyone's eyes. “Actually, maybe we should’ve figured out a better way to go about this after all… That was a little aggressive.”

Pietro shrugged. “I liked it.”

She shook her head. “Of course you did, Pietro, of course.”

He laughed. "What was Elena's idea, to strip naked in the middle of the city?"

She giggled but then got very serious. "We are _not_ considering that. That option is not on the table."

Tony was impressed that they’d managed to keep this a secret for so long. He felt compelled to applaud them. “I feel thoroughly stupid.”

Nia turned to him. “In your defense, we didn’t really give you any hints.”

“Yeah, but _you two_? The signs were there! The signs were all there...”

“She is just not a good liar.” Pietro said. Nia playfully elbowed him in the side. “On bright side, Stark, now you get to see it all the time.”

She nodded and laughed. “In your face, out in the open, as payback for that stupid ‘no dating’ rule. You get to see us be cute all over the facility.”

Tony sighed. “I thought the rule was practical at the time.”

“Honestly, we should be thanking you, one of the reasons this relationship has worked so well so far is because we had to hide it.” Nia admitted. “Hiding made us spend a lot more alone time together.”

Tony turned to a very pleased Sam and glared at him. “Samuel Wilson, you knew?”

Sam nodded. “Hell yeah, Pietro told me.”

Nia giggled and crossed her arms. “Did he _really_?”

He laughed nervously and ran his fingers through his hair. “Something may have possibly slipped out at some point.”

Sam laughed. “I knew before he told me. I knew, Wanda knew, Nat knew, Steve found out a couple days ago with Fury. You, Helen, Rhodey, and Vision are the only people just now finding this out. Just wait until Clint gets a call.”

Natasha was already dialing his number on her phone. “Why not do it now?”

“Do you really think I’d tell you this if I knew they were specifically keeping it from you?” Sam asked. “Nah, this was too cute to interfere with.”

“Nia and Pietro… Nietro?” Tony asked.

Nia shook her head. “Let’s not assign any weird hybrid names to it, that’s tacky. Plus, Nietro sounds evil.”

“I think they were doing just fine without your intervention, Tony.” said Steve.

Rhodey laughed. “Yeah, for example, they're actually happy.”

Tony laughed sarcastically. “I'm very happy for them.”

“Hey Barton!” Nat said. Holding her phone's camera up towards Pietro and Nia. “Guess which Maximoff has a girlfriend.”

Clint gasped. “Little bastard found himself a girl, huh? Introduce me, man!”

Nia waved at the screen. Pietro pulled her close. “This is Nia Miller, our new scientist.”

Clint whistled. “Good taste, Maximoff. Nice to meet you, Nia. Wish I could be doing it in some way that wasn't this tiny bullshit screen. How's he treating ya?”

“He's wonderful.”

“He better be. I’ll fuck him up if he isn't.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's all happening, people. It's all happening. We're almost at the end.


	23. (Practically) Perfect For Each Other

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's smut in this chapter. It was originally in the 24th chapter but it just flowed so well here.  
> čerajin means star in the Serbian dialect of Vlax Romani. Yeah, I do hardcore research. I'm a professional garbage person.  
> This was supposed to be up earlier but the Civil War trailer happened.

At her first Avengers party, Nia did more drinking than dancing. She was keeping her guard up and hiding her boyfriend in plain sight.

At her second official Avengers party, Nia still did a considerable amount of drinking, but she was so happy, and she was dancing with her boyfriend and all of her friends in the center of the dance floor. She cracked a few jokes about the music Tony played being older than her. She blushed when she caught Pietro staring at her like she’d hung the stars in the sky. Then shit got real when she started a competition with Pietro over who could make the better drink. Sam, Rhodey, and Wanda watched them tease each other as if they were competing for anything more than the fun of it.

“Pietro, baby, give up.” she told him, carefully choosing which drinks to add to her potion. “You could beat me in a race, or a wrestling match, but you can’t beat me at alcoholism. No one can.”

He laughed. “Are you really so sure of that? I can make vodka taste like heaven.”

“Who needs heaven when you have ambrosia, the drink of the gods? I don’t mean to brag or anything, but I’ve gotten close.”

“Oh _haha_ , you drink whiskey straight out of the bottle.”

She scoffed. “Who doesn’t like a good burning sensation rushing down their throat every once in awhile?”

Sam chuckled. “You two do realize you’re wearing matching outfits, right?”

They paused and looked at each other. Nia was wearing a short silver and white dress with silver eyeliner and white hi-top sneakers. Pietro was wearing a white button down shirt with grey pants and a few silver rings.

“It was an accident.” Nia said. "A weird accident."

Pietro smiled. “Silver is your color.”

Nia kissed him on the cheek. “You must be rubbing off on me.” She started stirring her drink again. “But you’re still not gonna beat me.”

“How does it feel to be wrong for the first time in your life?” Pietro asked.

“It doesn’t because I’m not.”

“My sweet quiet čerajin, you are mistaken.”

They both pulled out three shot glasses and poured their drinks for the captive audience to try.

Rhodey nodded excitedly. “Looks like we’re the real winners.”

Sam did Nia’s first, then took a pause before downing Pietro’s. He grinned at them. “They taste the same.”

“Okay, now you’re fucking with us.” Nia said.

Wanda shook her head. “They are different colors, and Nia’s is a little stronger, but they are the same taste.”

Rhodey nodded. “They’re the same drink. Awww.”

“That’s weird…” Nia whispered. She smiled at Pietro. “Dude, we’re so weird…”

He chuckled. “So we’re perfect for each other.”

She looked into his eyes and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Well, you’re perfect for me but I don’t know what it is I do for you.”

“Perhaps I will tell you later.”

Sam bopped along to the music and suddenly remembered something he’d been meaning to ask Nia all night. “Hey, Nia, what’s your first official project as Avengers scientist going to be?”

“Your wings,” she replied. “I’m creating a new material for Pietro’s new and improved running shoes, I’m working with Tony on improvements to Rhodey’s suit, Steve asked if I could add a few alterations to Cap’s stealth suit. I have plans, I’m busy.”

“Nothing for yourself?” he asked.

“I don’t need anything, why?” Nia raised a questioning brow at him. “Tony’s been talking to you, hasn’t he?”

“About what?” Pietro asked.

Nia rolled her eyes. “He told me like two hours ago that he has an idea for this suit called the ‘Bluebird’ which would basically be a lighter weight version of Sam’s wings made specifically for me. I’m flattered, but no.”

“At least consider it.” Sam said. “It would be so cool to have you in the skies with us, we could train you and everything.”

“Plus, you’d be the first Black woman on the team.” Rhodey said. "That's something."

She shook her head. “Rhodey, I’m already the first Black woman on the fucking team without the suit. I’m still an Avenger, Helen’s an Avenger, too. We’re sci-tech, remember? The ones making sure you operative assholes don’t die out there. Especially _this_ asshole.” She pointed to Pietro. “If he runs into one more goddamn collapsing building, I’m tying him to a post.”

He laughed. “I always make it out.”

She sucked her teeth. _You're cute but we can fight_. “Sometimes only by an inch, Pietro.”

“Isn’t he so stressful?” Wanda asked her. “I am so glad to have someone else who feels this pain, too.”

“I mean heroism and bravery is one thing, but sometimes I know he just does stuff because he comes back with an all too proud grin on his face like ‘Nia, you will not believe what just happened’.” Wanda imitated the face and Nia laughed. “That’s it, that’s the one.”

“Some things never change then. He used to do dumb shit in Sokovia, before he got powers, and he’d come home with that look on his face.”

“So this is just what you two do now?” Pietro asked.

They nodded. “It is nothing against you, brother.”

“You know we love you.” Nia said. “You just cause us slightly more anxiety than the average person, if that makes any sense.”

"It would be scarier if they didn't do this, Pietro." Rhodey assured him. "Just be happy they're friends."

Pietro pouted and Nia smiled at him. "Will dancing make you feel better?"

"It might."

“Well then come on, Tony's playing something good for once."

Tony noticed them laughing at him from the DJ booth and furrowed his brows before tapping on the mic. "If you two think I'm intimidated by two twenty-somethings wearing matching outfits, you're wrong."

"He's intimidated, just go dance." Rhodey told them.

Nia pulled Pietro out on the floor with him while the song "Something In The Way You Are" started to play. Nia and Pietro slow danced, close as they could be, smiling like they were in heaven. As far as they were concerned, they were the only people in the room. There was nothing but them and the music.

It was the only time many of the other Avengers had seen Nia out of her shell. Pietro always managed to do that, and he loved it. He wanted everyone to see his girl for who she truly was, and fall as in love with her as he was. She deserved it.

She twirled into his arms, just like in the movies, and looked up at him. He smiled as they caught their breath. The sound of the party still going on around them slowly returned to their attention. They were no longer the only two people in the room, but that could be remedied easily.

“You’re such a good dancer.” Nia told him. "I'd say it's impressive, but that would go to your head."

He shrugged and dipped her. “Only when I want to impress pretty girls.”

She kissed him on the cheek when she came back up. “I’m not someone you need to impress.” 

"No, you are far too busy impressing everyone else to notice me." Pietro ran his tongue across his lips and leaned in close to her ear.  “You want to get out of here?”

She nodded and looked around. “Won’t people notice?”

He shook his head. “This is nothing we have not done before, and if I don’t get you upstairs soon I might just have to have you here, and I think we both know you don’t want that.”

“You want me that bad?”

“You have no idea.”

They danced through the crowd and over to Sam at the bar, just like the last time. He looked at them over his glass. “Somethin’ I can help you two with?”

“Can you make sure no one notices us sneaking out a little early?” Nia asked. Pietro's hand was steadily moving down her back. "Um, right now? It's cool if you don't want to."

“Sure, but no promises. These people _do_ work for an intelligence organization.”

“Thanks, Sam.” Nia hugged him and the two lovebirds snuck out.

* * *

They couldn’t even make it all the way up to their floor. Once the elevator doors were almost closed, Pietro had Nia pinned to the wall, lips attacking her’s, hands roaming up the skirt of her dress. She held onto his arms, ecstatic about the elevator not being the quickest. He reached the lining of her panties and his eyes widened when he found something lacier than what she usually wore. “What’s this?”

She bit her lip and lifted her dress up a bit so that he could sneak a peek. “A gift.”

“Oh, Nia, you didn’t have to…”

“I wanted to, I wanted to see your reaction. There’s more to see…”

The elevator arrived on their floor and Pietro picked her up and carried her to their bedroom. She quickly peeled off her sneakers and started going to work on the zipper of her dress. He took off his shirt and he’d started to unbuckle his pants when he heard Nia’s dress hit the ground and looked up.

“Јеби га…”

She had on white, lacy lingerie that looked so stunning against her skin. He became suddenly aware of her perfume and the way she was looking at him. The hottest thing of all was how confident she seemed, how bold of a gesture this was. If he ever picked his jaw up off the floor, he’d tell her. Better yet, he’d show her. This was the exact reaction she'd been hoping for.

He pulled his pants off and picked her up, pulling her legs around his waist. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him again. She bit his bottom lip when she felt him growing beneath her, he’d hardened just seeing her in her lingerie. She loved the feeling of him against her.

He knelt on the bed and slowly lowered her down on her back. He covered her face and neck with kisses. “My beautiful girl…” His lips met hers again while his hand started to wander south, beneath her lacy panties. She ran her hands up his strong arms to his shoulders, and her grip tightened when she felt his fingers brush her clit. He smiled against her lips and started rubbing the wet heat that had been pooling between her legs. She moaned into his ear and rolled her hips against his hand. She was getting so wet, so quickly.

Pietro moved his fingers to Nia’s entrance and started teasing her, circling her. When he could feel her throbbing beneath him, he pushed his fingers inside of her. She was so warm, so wet and tight. He didn’t even have to move, because she was already moving. She was fucking herself on his fingers and he was so turned on by that realization that he couldn’t think straight, he started moving with her.

Her back arched off the bed, and she looked into his blue eyes as she felt herself getting close already. “Yes… Faster.” He did as she asked, gradually increasing his speed. “Yes, Pietro, fuck…” She was so close, so so close. The faster he went, the closer she got to teetering over the edge. They never took their eyes from each other.

Nia’s breath hitched and her head fell back as she came around his fingers twice. He let her catch her breath and come down from her haze before pulling out his fingers and licking them clean. She pulled her panties over her legs and threw them off to the side, opening her thighs for him to climb in. He licked his lips and pushed her legs back, holding them there to give him access to his favorite treat.

He started licking her slowly, meticulously. Nia’s hands met his around her legs, they tangled their fingers together while he went deeper, not faster, but deeper. Her moans were music to his ears. He looked up to see that her eyes were half-lidded and her hair was all over the place.

“Pietro, please…”

He knew what she wanted, he knew damn well. “Please, what?”

“Use your powers.”

He winked at her and suddenly his tongue was vibrating inside of her and around her. Her toes curled and her eyes closed and she let out a restrained moan. She let her legs down on his shoulders and his hands gripped her thighs. She had the sheets in her fists. He would come as close to her clit as possible and pull away. She could feel a pressure building in her core, growing and growing.

“Mmmm baby…” she whined. “I’m so close…”

He nodded and focused on her clit. Attacking it with his tongue and with his lips, desperately trying to pull her over the edge. She pulled her pillow over her mouth to muffle her screaming, just in case someone could hear, and Pietro pulled it away.

“Let them hear you, I don’t care if they hear you, _I_ want to hear you.” he told her before going back to work.

She was loud and excited now that he’d given her permission to be. Her hips bucked forward as the warmth of her climax rushed through her body. His eyes stayed locked on her the entire time. Once she came down, he licked her juices and crawled between her legs, meeting her lips with a sweet, nurturing kiss.

“You are the love of my life.” he whispered. “No one will ever hurt you again.”

She smiled and held his face. “You are the love of mine, but you can’t promise that.”

“I can. As long as you are mine, I will protect you.” He unhooked her lingerie, which she didn’t even noticed he’d begun to work on, and threw it to the side. He started leaving a trail of kisses from her lips to her chin to her chest. “I will come back to you... I will love you…”

She quickly grabbed a condom from the nightstand. “Aw fuck, did that break the mood?”

He laughed and shook his head, ripping the package open with his teeth. “Not mine.”

“Oh good.”

He pulled off his underwear and slipped the condom on. Then he pulled her legs around his waist, lining himself up with her entrance.  She tangled her fingers in his hair, and pressed her forehead to his. In this moment they were beautiful and safe, and so happy. If it weren’t partially their responsibility to save the world they would be like this all the time, so they appreciated these moments.

He slowly stroked into her, a deep groan escaping from his throat. He hoped he’d never get used to feeling her around him, never. It felt too damn good every single time, so sweet and warm. She was made for him. He moved in and out of her, savoring the feeling. His thoughts were getting clouded, but he could still see her clearly. She moaned and held tightly to him. Their chests were flushed against each other, they could feel each other’s heartbeats.

He sped up and they rolled over, now she was on top. She rolled her hips on him with confidence and control. He moaned and she kissed his chest and his neck. He was so used to taking care of her, that seeing her take control was one of the sexiest things he’d ever seen. His hands moved to her hips, letting him speed up with her. They were really loud now, not just with their moans, but with the sounds of their skin colliding and the bed rocking. The headboard was hitting the wall and God only knows what JARVIS was seeing.

They were so close. Pietro was starting to use his powers, his hips almost violently snapping into her's trying to bring them over the edge. They were rougher than usual, leaving dark red and purple marks on each other. There was no reason to hide them anymore, and that made them all the more reckless.

Pietro was hitting the perfect spot at that angle. Every thrust was almost too much for Nia to handle. She almost let him take over, but she too liked her new-found control and refused to relinquish it to the very end.

He was on the verge of release but holding back, waiting for her to let go first. He was going as fast and as hard as he possibly could without hurting her.

Nia hit her peak finally, and it felt like more than once. It was wave after wave of brilliant pleasure, rocking her body completely. It was overwhelming. “Yes- GOD YES!”

Pietro came with her, slowing down afterwards but keeping a solid pace for her to ride her pleasure out. He really loved seeing her climax, and this was quite the show.

When they were both finished, Pietro pulled out and Nia collapsed on his chest. They were happy and hazy. Nia kissed him and rolled off to let him throw out the condom, as soon as he caught his breath that is. She was mostly giggly, it was obvious they weren't getting back to the party in the state they were in.

“You are something else.” Pietro told her before climbing back into bed. “Something so wonderful.”

"You said you'll always come back to me?" Nia asked.

"I will."

"And you'll always love me?"

"I always will."

She grinned and stuck out her pinky finger, trying to hide the fact that she was on the verge of very happy tears for the second time that day. "Pinky promise?"

He chuckled and pinky promised her. "Always." He kissed her goodnight and they fell asleep in each other's arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Јеби га- oh fuck  
> song from this chapter: https://youtu.be/aORgpTrrJ7U


	24. Finally a Happy Gosh Darn Resolution

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations  
> неце да проговори- She will not talk  
> Нисам забринут за њу- I'm not worried about her  
> Он не може да помогне себи- He can't help himself  
> Његов поглед на свет је огледало- His view of the world is a mirror

**About six months and a new pair of eyeglasses for Nia later…**

“So are we announcing it tonight or what?” Nia asked Pietro. It wasn’t like she didn’t adore being close to him in hallways, but Steve was cooking for once and she’d be an idiot to pass up eating food made by actual Captain America. “I need a plan.”

Pietro shrugged. “I mean, they could figure it out themselves.”

“They could, but will they? Will they really?”

He smiled like he’d been smiling the entire day and held her face. “I wanted to shout it from the rooftops but _someone_ said that would be tacky.”

“It is tacky, Maximoff, and there’s no way I could endorse tacky behavior.”

“Soon you will also be a Maximoff…”

Nia couldn’t help the wide smile on her face, but she quickly covered his mouth with the hand that didn’t have her new engagement ring on it when she heard someone coming down the hall. “Pietro, stop being cute for one second while we figure this out.”

Clint walked by and grinned. “What the hell are you two up to?”

“Nothing!” they said in unison. Pietro's voice was muffled by Nia's hand.

“Nothing at all!” Nia waved him away with her ringed hand and Pietro’s eyes widened. “We’re just chattin’.”

“Alright, hurry inside. I don’t know what Steve just made but I am eating all of it.”

When Clint was out of earshot, Nia let Pietro go and he bit his lip. “He could have seen your ring.”

“Okay, but the rooftop is still tacky.” she said. “I guess we’ll just behave normally tonight and hope they figure shit out for themselves. Can’t be too hard. Especially for Nat and Wanda. I’m in sweatpants with a big diamond on my finger, it’s a little obvious.” It was a gorgeous ring, too. With a silver band and light blue stones on either side of pretty big diamond. Pietro went all out, he meant business.

“Oh fuck, I forgot about my sister…”

“How?” Nia asked. “You are literally twins, baby. How?”

“Sorry, my whole day has been about you.”

She blushed. “Good save.”

“Listen, неце да проговори.”

Nia crossed her arms. “Нисам забринут за њу…”

“Wait, you think _I_ would say something?”

“I know you would. You’re the one who suggested shouting it from the rooftops, I expect nothing less.” She kissed him and started to kiss his neck. “It’ll be more fun this way...”

He smiled, holding her closer to him. “You are learning my mother tongue so quickly...”

She pulled away from him with a smirk. “I know how much you love it.”

“I just love you and I love that we have new way to talk to each other.”

She took his hand and they walked towards the kitchen together. “Pietro Maximoff, me, you, and your pants all know that’s not the only reason you love it so much.”

He blushed. “In my defense, you _were_ just kissing my neck.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“Have I told you how cute you are in your new glasses?”

“Everyday since I got ‘em.”

Nia gasped when she walked into the kitchen and found Helen grabbing dishes while Steve attended to the delicious greasy potato wedges laid out on a pan on the counter. She kissed Helen on the cheek and Steve smiled at her. “Somethin’ tells me you’re a fan of potato wedges.”

“I am, sir, I am.” she replied. “I knew I smelled potatoes. What else we got?”

“Sam, Clint, and Rhodey made some other stuff that’s out on the table, plus we have your cookie dough in the fridge.” he replied. “This was a really good idea, Nia.”

“You hero people never just sit and eat, it was necessary for everyone’s sanity.”

“Have you two been in your pajamas all day?”

They nodded. Nia brushed some hair from her face. “We’re tired. Netflix has everything a person could want.” she said. “We’re at that point in our relationship where we don’t give a fuck anymore.”

“You made cookie dough?” Pietro asked. “When was this?”

“Last night, and I specifically didn’t tell you because I knew you’d try to eat it before I had a chance to bake with it, sir. I know you.”

“Well, I know that they’re there now.”

“Don’t.”

“I might…”

“The cookies are for everyone.”

“Am I not a part of ‘everyone’?”

Nia sighed and started leading him out of the kitchen. “Come with me, I don’t trust you in here.”

“Wait, Nia…” Steve said. She turned back around, he pointed to her ring and grinned. “When the hell did that happen?”

She smiled. “This morning.”

“Congrats.”

“Don’t tell anyone, we’re letting them figure it out for themselves.”

“I won’t.”

“Thanks Cap.”

She took a seat next to Pietro and Wanda, grabbing a plate and waiting while Pietro filled her cup with water. She reached over the table to dig into Sam’s sweet potatoes and she noticed him freeze and stare at her engagement ring. It took him a second to process that this was new and, in fact, an engagement ring. She could see the light bulb in his head flash on. She pretended not to notice, though.

“Sam!” Natasha said.

He shook himself out of his surprised state. “Huh?”

“When did you tune out?”

He rubbed his head and tried not to stare at the ring. “Were you talking about Hawaii?”

“I was.”

“I got distracted.”

“I know, by what?”

Sam didn’t want to give it away, but his eyes naturally moved to the object of his distraction. Natasha made a pleased face and cleared her throat. “It’s fine, you don’t have to tell me.”

Steve brought out the potato wedges and set them on the table, taking a seat next to Sam. Tony chuckled. “Nice of Nia and Pietro to join us in their pajamas to remind us that we aren’t all young and have free time.”

Nia shook her head. “Y’all could join us next time. It’s a shame you have bad guys to fight and problems to deal with. I mean, he does too, but he’s also a slacker.”

“A slacker and a pain in everyone’s ass.” Clint joked. “No clue how you deal with him.”

Pietro smiled. Wanda looked over at them and noticed the ring. Then she looked at Steve, Sam, and Natasha. The looks on their faces were absolutely priceless. “Same way your wife and family deals with you, old man.”

Wanda quickly picked up on the fact that it was meant to be a surprise and tried to hide the grin on her face and the tears forming in her eyes. Pietro nudged her with his elbow, he knew that she knew. 

“Does anyone else feel like they’re missing something right now?” Tony asked. “Am I wrong?”

Nia shrugged. Rhodey noticed the ring as soon as he walked in from the bathroom, then Wanda gave him a subtle signal to not talk about it. “Maybe. If you’re missing it, I am too. It could be right under our noses.”

“Shit, I’m lost.” Clint said. “Unless it has something to do with that big ass ring on Nia’s finger.”

Everyone booed and threw balled up napkins at him. “Clint, really?” Natasha asked. “You had to ruin it.”

Helen clapped excitedly. “Really?!”

“You two are engaged?” Vision asked. “Wonderful.”

Nia held up her hand and Pietro kissed her cheek. “Yes, Pietro and I are getting married.”

“How'd it happen?” Helen asked. “How did you ask?”

“I woke up, took a shower, came back to the room and he had the ring in his hand “

The other Avengers congratulated them and then Tony cleared his throat and raised his glass. “A toast to the future Mr. and Mrs. Maximoff, and the fact that they wouldn’t be together if it weren’t for me.”

Nia rolled her eyes and they all clinked glasses. “Had to make it about you, didn’t you?”

“Он не може да помогне себи.” Pietro said.

Nia and Wanda giggled. “Његов поглед на свет је огледало.” Nia replied. They laughed even more, Natasha snorted.

Tony turned to Natasha. “What are they saying?”

She shook her head. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Does this mean you’re moving out?” Sam asked.

Nia nodded. “Probably, the city is expensive but we’ll find a place.”

“Run background checks this time.” he told them.

“I think I’ve learned my lesson about that.”

“You’re going to be my sister!” Wanda said excitedly. Nia smiled. “I am finally having a sister to talk to and share clothes with! I feel blessed.”

"Will you be my Maid of Honor?"

"Of course, Nia, I would love to!"

“You can move with us, by the way.” Nia told her. Her eyes shifted to Vision and then back to Wanda. “Unless you have some other arrangement worked out.” She took a sip of water. “None of my business, of course.”

Wanda blushed. “I’ll stay here. You two can have your private space.”

Nia grinned. “Mmhmm…”

There couldn’t have been anyone, other than Nia and Pietro themselves, more excited than Sam and Rhodey. They felt like they were watching a little sister grow up, and Pietro loved her so much that they knew she was with The One.

“Who’s gonna walk you down the aisle, Nia?” Sam asked with a wink. Tony raised his hand. “No, seriously, who?”

Tony pointed to himself. “Me.”

“C’mon, Tony, I think Sam’s earned this one.” Steve said.

He scoffed. “If Sam’s so great, why don’t you marry him?”

“Do you really want to start an argument tonight of all nights?” Sam asked. “Over this?”

Nia sighed. She was annoyed by the argument, but she couldn't help feeling loved because of it. She'd never seen anyone else argue over her like territorial step-dads. She cleared her throat loudly. “Or you could, you know, both walk me down the fucking aisle like mature adults. That works, too!”

Sam and Tony looked at her then back at each other. "Yeah." Sam said. "That works, too."

"Okay but my tux has to be nicer than his."

"Translation: more obnoxious." Clint joked. Tony glared at him. "All offense."

"The important thing here is that Nia and Pietro love each other and their wedding will be _fun_." Natasha said. "No need to go to war every time the wind blows, boys."

Pietro smiled at Nia and she smiled back at him. They couldn't contain their own excitement, so they understood everyone else's. Both of them had always hoped to find someone to spend the rest of their lives with, but it never seemed like a priority until they found each other. Now, finally, after all the sneaking around and risking both of their jobs to be together, they could finally _do it_. They could finally be together, a blur of silver and blue while the world passed them by.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE END!  
> "uh, bitch, it says there are 25 chapters and this is only chapter 24"  
> yeah  
> i know  
> see you in roughly 6-15 days ;)))))))


	25. BONUS: Heaven Truly Knows That Thou Art False As Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unpleasant visit from Nia's childhood and a happy ending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *crawls out of cave* So I have two more finals left and I was going to wait to upload this until they were all done but, well, I had some free time. This is it buddies. The home stretch. The final patch of grass to mow.  
> It's also completely detached from the rest of the story. It takes place about two or three years after chapter 24, so it's essentially an overgrown one-shot. But bada bing, bada boom, here it is! Hope you like it! Thanks for reading, I love y'all soooo much.  
> warning: I use the g-slur in this chapter

“Did you know that the Rocky statue was supposed to be taken down right after the movie was finished shooting?”

Nia raised an eyebrow at her husband of almost two years now and nearly choked on the crepe in her mouth. It was their first vacation together, and after a few days in Philly they’d be flying out to Sokovia with Wanda and Vision for Thanksgiving. For now, they were having a blast. “Oh my God, Pietro, are you still reading through that Philly facts thing on your phone?”

“It’s called being a tourist.”

She smiled and took his phone away, giggling as he tried to get it back. “It’s called I was born and raised here, why don’t we actually go to the Art Museum and see the statue? We’re a pretty short walking distance away.”

He grinned. “We could... but annoying you out here is so much more fun.” He noticed that she was unamused, or at least pretending to be. “Where to next then?”

She rubbed her hands together, beginning to regret the fingerless gloves, but not enough to take them off. Pietro took her hands in his extremely warm ones while she tried to figure out their next stop. “Walnut Street, babe. I need a new case for my phone.”

“What happened to your last one?”

She sighed. “I wanted to see if Bucky could break it with his metal arm since Tony and I just fixed it up and the case was pretty solid plastic. It was all in the name of scientific inquiry, of course.” she explained. She had to laugh at herself. “The conclusion being that Bucky and I should never be alone in the same room ever, and sometimes being a geek can cost me.”

He laughed. “Well, now we know.”

“Don’t laugh, you would’ve done the exact same thing.”

He smiled and put his arm around her waist. “You know, I don’t think that I would.”

Nia pouted and leaned on his chest. They couldn’t walk around like this in New York, not together. One of them would get noticed and they would be hounded. But the small streets of Philly were different, no one gave a shit about superheroes there unless you somehow made the bus arrive faster. Nia loved the anonymity, the privacy. It would come in handy when she told Pietro some big news later that night.

They made it to Walnut Street and strolled down to the Apple Store, Nia browsed the cases while Pietro looked at all the devices. She found a case with the Avengers symbol on the back and smiled. “Hey, babe?”

“Yeah?”

“I found the perfect case.” He walked over to see and as soon as he saw the symbol he shook his head. She couldn’t contain her laughter. “You don’t like it?”

“We can not escape! Not even on vacation can we escape!” She was laughing so hard. He was so over-dramatic, only because he knew it would make her laugh. His wife’s laugh was probably his favorite sound.

“I’m getting this one.”

“Are you not tired of seeing that fucking ‘A’ everywhere?”

“Not ‘A’ for Avengers, honey, ‘A’ for assholes.”

Pietro laughed. “Same thing.”

They bought the case and walked to Rittenhouse Park. It was quite the cold day so no one else was really there, and the lights had just gone up for holidays. They sat on a bench and Nia instagrammed pictures of their trip so far for the other Avengers to see. Pietro took out his own phone and started recording her.

“If what I think is happening is happening, it better not be.” She warned him.

“Come on! The whole world should see my sexy wife!” She blushed and smiled at the camera. “See, world? Look at my sexy wife.”

She pushed the phone out of the way and kissed him. “You’re ridiculous.” She pressed her cheeks with her fingers. “My face looks fat today.”

“Fat? Like with the ‘ph’?”

She shook her head. “Who taught you that?”

“The point I am attempting to make is…” He smiled against her soft lips, the only warm things touching his skin at that moment. “You are ridiculously beautiful.”

She kissed his nose. “You still manage to make my heart race.”

“Racing is what I do.”

“And then you ruin the moment with a pun.”

The moment was actually ruined by a third voice. “Nia?”

Nia pulled away from him and her eyes widened. _That wasn’t him…_ The voice, coming from behind her, was female, and familiar, and left a bad taste in her mouth. She was hoping her guess was wrong before she turned around.

“You know this woman?” Pietro asked.

“That depends,” Pietro knew the look in her eyes was one of shock. Her stomach was turning. “What does she look like?”

“She looks like… You… Only older.”

She closed her eyes as if anticipating a punch. “Aw, fuck.” She turned and saw, of all people, her mother standing there, looking just as shocked as she was. “Oh _fuck me_.”

Her mother was a rather short woman with long straightened salt and pepper hair. She was wearing an expensive coat and carrying a fine leather bag, so her event planning business must’ve taken off after all, not that Nia was surprised. Her mother was a ruthless no nonsense woman, the perfect ceo.

As her wide eyes met her estranged daughter’s, there was a distance between them far greater than the physical distance between them. Nia already resolved never to see her parents again, and was hoping this was a bad nightmare brought on by recent lifestyle changes. Mrs. Miller was shocked to see her child in the same way someone would be shocked to find a missing person in their backyard. She was surprised to see her alive. Even more surprised to see her in the arms of a rather handsome man.

“My, my, you have changed…” Mrs. Miller said. “You’ve got glasses now, and your hair is… Wow.”

Nia nodded, still astonished that this was an actual thing that was actually happening to her. “Yeah, turns out I’m near-sighted and I really like the color blue. Can I help you?”

“I’m surprised to see you here, Nia.” she replied. “Who is this?”

“Pietro, this is my mother, Regina Miller.” she said, still looking extremely displeased. “Regina, this is my husband, Pietro.”

Her mother gasped. “You’re married?”

“Yes. Happily. I would’ve sent you an invitation, but I hadn’t seen or heard from you since I was twenty.” She turned away, unable to look her in the eyes for much longer. “I’m Nia Maximoff now. I have been for almost two years. Our anniversary is December 8th.”

Her mother cleared her throat, hesitant to pass through the walls Nia had managed to build over the years. The last time she spoke to her daughter she was a timid, sensitive college student. “What have you been doing for the past few years?”

Nia sighed and stood up, Pietro did the same. “Working with the Avengers, developing tech for the Avengers, marrying an Avenger. I also work with Girls Who Code and I do talks at high schools now. Whatever, you haven’t heard this, right? I only talked about it in Wired magazine, and the Huffington Post, and Essence...”

“You did that thing with Tony in TIME magazine.” Pietro reminded her.

“That’s right, I _did_ do that thing with Tony.”

Her mother brushed some hair from her face. She’d seen the magazine covers, and occasionally glanced inside, but never gave it serious thought. “Your husband? He’s an Avenger?”

Pietro nodded. “I’m Quicksilver, Mrs. Miller.” He felt so strange speaking to her. Nia had never told him good things about her parents, and the defender inside of him didn’t quite know how to react to her mother. He wanted to protect her, but the problems with her mother were inside of her memories, he couldn’t protect her from that.

Her mother nodded. “I know about you. I’ve seen you on the news, or I think I’ve read something about you. The 'gypsy' twins, right?” She grinned amusedly at her daughter. “My daughter, working for the Avengers...”

“With.” Pietro corrected her. “Technically, Nia is an Avenger.”

"Yeah, and please don't call my husband and my sister the g-slur, thank you." Nia told her. "As if they don't get it twice a week anyway..."

“You're not really an Avenger, you don’t fight.” she argued.

She always did this, she was so excellent at belittling Nia's accomplishments. It wasn't completely true anymore, either. Sam had been training her for a few months, she was a pretty solid fighter. Still, that wasn't the point, she was a scientist. She was a vital part of the team.

“Yeah, I don't fight, and neither would they if I weren’t around to make sure their weapons and communicators were functioning. Anyway, how’s your husband?”

“Your father is fine, he's retired.”

Nia faked a smile and grabbed Pietro's hand. “Great! It was nice seeing you, Regina.”

They started to walk off and her mother sighed. “Wait, Nia!”

Nia took a deep breath and turned to Pietro. She’d put on such a strong face back there, but in front of her husband it’d dissolved into anxiety. “What do I do?”

He kissed her forehead. “See what she wants, then we will go.”

She nodded and he took her hand before they walked back to her mother. They now stood face to face. Nia felt nothing but resentment. Nothing positive remained in her memory of her mother.

Her mother still spoke coldly, only attaching emotion where she presumed it needed to be. “Nia, we cut you off because we wanted better things for you.” her mother admitted. “We wanted this life for you. We wanted you to be successful and have a family.”

“Then why do you still seem so disappointed?” Nia asked. “I am successful and the Avengers are my family, but you still seem disappointed in me.”

“It’s just… Not how we expected. If you give us time-”

“I’m not rich or a doctor is what you’re saying to me right now, right?” she asked. “Because that’s what I’m hearing, Regina. I’m not hearing pride in your child, I’m hearing disappointment and I’m hearing shock that I managed to succeed in that shitty career track I’d dreamt of my whole life.”

“Well, I am shocked. We didn’t know how well you would do. We wanted you to be practical, at the time.”

Nia furrowed her brows and walked a little closer to her mother. “At the time? You’re so fucking full of shit, I can’t even believe there’s room for organs in your body.” she told her. Pietro looked impressed by that line. “ _At the time_ , Regina? Let me tell you something, you fucked me up from age five to age twenty fucking two. I was an alcoholic! I had an eating disorder in high school! God, I’m surprised I was never strung out, but then again, you’d like that wouldn’t you? I’d finally be thin enough for you then.”

“Nia, that’s not what we were trying to do…”

“Really? What were you and Isaiah trying to do to your teenage daughter? Actually, I don’t care. Your intentions are a fucking nonissue because of what happened as a result of your actual actions and your words! The first robot I ever built, you destroyed, remember that?”

“You were eleven… I remember.”

Nia nodded. “You remember what daddy said to me?” Her mother remembered vaguely, but Nia knew she wouldn't say it. “Something along the lines of ‘Doctors have no business trying to be Howard Stark’.”

Her mother looked into her eyes again. “But look how you turned out.” she said. “We got you into MIT on a scholarship. Now you’re friends, I presume, with Tony Stark.”

Nia was in tears now, shaking and sniffling. Pietro put a supportive hand on her shoulder. “I tried to kill myself at the end of sophomore year and you told me that I was being an ‘inconvenience’ to you because you had a shitty fucking wedding to oversee that weekend.”

Her mother cleared her throat. “That was rude, I’ll admit.” Pietro scoffed and rolled his eyes. “You have nothing to do with this.”

“He’s my husband, he’s my actual family, fuck off trying to pretend you ever were.” she said. “I’ve drank whiskey more nurturing than you.”

Suddenly, her mother’s stare hardened. Nia almost had flashbacks of being a kid and looking into those same eyes every single day. “Oh, I’d love to see you be a mom...” she told her. The statement was so cold, unfeeling. It made Pietro physically uncomfortable. “You’ll raise a pack of degenerates without the ideas and discipline we gave you. You and your _thief_ husband will do just fine when you Avengers have to fight your own children.”

Nia wiped the tears from her face and stared into the eyes of the woman who tore her down all those years. Her husband standing by her side, she realized she didn’t have to fight this fight. She was fighting a ghost. This woman was a memory of a life she’d left behind a long time ago and she was standing with Pietro on the other side. Since she was happy, she'd already won.

“First off, no one calls him a thief and gets away with it. What are you? A white grandpa? Any other racist stereotypes you wanna throw at him? Because I have more than enough shit on you to clap back for the next twenty years.” she told her. “Second of all…” She paused. Did she really want to say this now? Here? Just to prove a point to her mom? She turned to Pietro and then back to her mother. It wasn't the right time or place but a lot of things in her relationship with him seemed to happen that way. “You’ll find out soon enough how good of a mom I am because I’m six weeks pregnant.”

Pietro gasped. _That’s_ what she’d been meaning to tell him all day! _That’s_ why she’d been so nervous! _That’s_ why she’s been so tired! It all happened so quickly, no pun intended. They’d been trying to conceive for a few months. “Pregnant?!”

His voice was so high and excited she almost wept. She smiled at him and put her hand over her belly. “They're basically the size of a pea right now but yes, Pietro, I’m pregnant. We’re having a baby.”

He covered his mouth. “My wife is pregnant… How long have you known?” he asked. “I have never been so happy in my life, Nia, how long?”

“Four days.”

He held her face and pulled her into his arms. “Oh my love, are you okay? Have you been sick? Do your feet hurt? I will carry you back to the hotel-”

She kissed him on the cheek. “I’m fine, I feel a little gross but I'm fine, baby. Hold on a sec.” She turned back to her mother. “This baby is going to be fine because of _him_.” she told her. “My husband is the sweetest, most loving ball of egocentric sunshine you could ever meet and he will be the best fucking father in the world. Like I’m talking Father of the Century. He had great parents to take notes from, and he has a great sister who will help us, and our family will be better than anything you thought it would be.”

“You have to let me see my grandchild, Nia.” It was more of a threat than anything. Obviously, just based on the earlier 'pack of degenerates' comment, Regina Miller had little to no interest in her grandchildren besides just being a looming presence like she was with Nia. “You have to. That's my blood.”

Nia shook her head. “No, I don't. I don't even have to tell them about you. Do you really think that'll be hard for me to do?”

“That's cruel.”

Nia shrugged. “Cruel is me being stabbed and you not caring to see me in the hospital. Cruel is my co-workers walking me down the aisle because my real father was pretending that I didn’t exist just because I didn’t choose the _job_ he wanted me to have. This is not cruelty, this is natural separation.” She took a deep breath. “Goodbye, Regina. Really this time.”

She turned to Pietro and he touched her belly. She hadn't begun to show yet but he was already imagining what she would look like, and she was already glowing. He kissed her with the most excited smile on his face. “You hid this from me for four days?!”

She giggled. “It wasn't easy.”

“I didn't think I could love you any more than I already did but now…”

“Yeah we’ll see what you say later. They say the first pregnancy is always the hardest for the parents to get through.”

“You are not doing this alone.”

"I know."

Nia's mother finally left them, seeing that she had no place in their picture.

Pietro caught onto her earlier statement and cocked his head to the side with a smirk. “First pregnancy? How many children were you thinking, Nia?”

“How many do you want?”

“That’s up to you, it is your body.”

“Is that code for ‘a few but I know childbirth is painful’?”

“I'm not using code, I swear it is completely up to you, my love.”

“We’ll see. I don’t know. If that shit hurts like I think it does, I think two or three might be our limit.”

“Sounds good to me.”

* * *

__

_Quite some time later in the elevator of the Avengers Facility, at around 3 AM…_

“Do you think she’ll understand?” Nia asked. “I mean, I know she just discovered her own hands yesterday, but do you think Marya will understand that those are stars?”

Pietro shook his head and kept playing with the feet of the happy baby in his arms. “The important thing here is that the twinkling stars make her go to sleep.”

Nia kissed their daughter all over her brown fae-like face. She had these huge happy brown eyes that had the same sparkle as Pietro’s blue ones, and a smile that was all Nia. She smiled with her entire little face. But Nia's favorite things were her ears. She had adorable almost pointed ears, just like an elf. That's how she got the middle name 'Galadriel'. “Pietro?”

“Yes, dear?”

“Having a baby: Best decision we’ve made as a couple.”

He chuckled. Even though they were horribly sleep deprived and probably in need of a vacation someplace warm, he completely shared the feeling. “Are you excited, little Marya? Are you excited to see the stars?”

Nia smiled. “She’s like ‘What the hell, dad? What are stars?’.”

He held her up to his face and kissed her. That was probably the most kissed baby in the history of mankind. “You’re a star, my princeza. You are our star.”

Marya grinned and Nia smiled. “She really does like the sound of your voice, that’s so cute!”

The elevator stopped at the top floor, and they walked up the stairs to the roof. “This will be fun, star-gazing with my girls.”

They sat down and they watched Marya look at all the twinkling stars and satellites. She was so happy that her mouth hung open.

Nia sighed, amazed that such a beautiful creation was her own. “Marya could be travelling through those stars one day, she could be an astronaut or she could paint the stars like Van Gogh. Imagine all our little baby girl will do, Pietro! She'll be incredible.”

He grinned. “Just like her mother.”

Nia's posture straightened and she stared back out at the sky, filled with nothing but hope for the years to come. “Yeah, somethin' like her mother…”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You nerds have been wonderful to write for, thank you for everything. I'm project-less at the moment, but I'll come up with something eventually ;)


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